Beyond Yoko Ono: The Japanese Female Artists Who Broke the Mold

Yoko Ono famously asked visitors, one of whom turned out to be a Beatle, to climb a ladder in a London gallery and discover the word YES. Yayoi Kusama covered naked performers in her signature polka dots for happenings in 1960s New York.

Many other Japanese women artists also challenged convention and left a lasting mark on the art world but did not achieve their celebrity. Two major exhibitions in Europe aim to place their work into the spotlight.

Kaihō: Japanese Women Artists after 1945, which is due to open at Mudam Luxembourg (Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) on September 25, showcases the work of nearly 40 artists, including Ono. Drawing on the artists’ personal lives, the exhibition celebrates the resilience and creativity of pioneeering figures from Japan and the Japanese diaspora, such as Atsuko Tanaka, Mao Ishikawa, Seiko Mikami, and Tomie Ohtake.

Co-curated by Florence Ostende, formerly of Mudam and now director of artistic programs at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the exhibition will travel to Munich’s Lenbachhaus in spring 2027 before concluding at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in fall 2027.

Another ambitious show is now on view at London’s Photographers’ Gallery. It highlights the work of 27 Japanese female photographers, many of whom are little known outside Japan.

Featuring more than 200 photographs, videos, installations, and rare photobooks, it includes the intimate images created by Toyoko Tokiwa, who had her first solo show in Tokyo in 1956. She documented postwar Japan and is best known for her portraits of working women in Yokohama’s red-light districts.

Japanese Women Photographers: From 1950s to Now ends on September 27.