Yoko Ono, 76, has made the painful and somewhat controversial decision to include the bloodied clothing her late husband John Lennon wore on the day he was assassinated in an exhibit on his life. A paper bag with Lennon’s clothes, saved from that fateful night nearly 30 years ago, will be shown at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NY as part of the show “John Lennon: The New York Years.”:
A new John Lennon exhibit is particularly emotional for his widow, Yoko Ono. Besides Lennon’s guitars, letters and other personal effects, it also includes a paper bag containing the bloody clothes from the night he was shot to death.
Ono received the items from the medical examiner in December 1980, when the former Beatle was gunned down in New York City at age 40.
“It was hard to include,” Ono said. “And I thought it might be criticized as well.”
But ultimately, Ono thought it was important to let people see the effects of gun violence.
The Lennon items are part of a new exhibit that will launch Tuesday at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex. “John Lennon: The New York Years” includes Lennon’s famous New York City T-shirt, his upright piano from his Dakota apartment, and a posthumous 1981 Grammy Award for the couple’s album “Double Fantasy.”
“I know it’s a kind of a sad and very poignant kind of paradox I think that he loved this place so much and this is where he was killed,” she said in an interview after a news conference for the exhibit.
There are also letters documenting Lennon’s long-fought battle against deportation in the early 1970s, both from the government and supporters. Glass cases also contain a dozen or so handwritten lyrics.
Ono says Lennon’s death still haunts her nearly 30 years later: “I still get affected by it.”
“If it (his death) was a slow a process we could have talked about it or something,” she added, holding back tears.
The exhibit will be on display throughout 2009.
[From AP via the Huffington Post]
Yoko Ono founded the John Lennon museum nine years ago in Saitama, Japan. It includes personal memorabilia, photos, videos and music from Lennon’s influential life cut short. Yoko saved so many things from her husband and it’s not shocking that she also has the clothes he was shot in. It’s brave of her to put those on display and it helps bring a sense of the reality of that terrible day. Yoko gets a lot of flack for her supposed role in breaking up the Beatles but that was a long time ago and she’s since worked hard to preserve her husband’s memory and to spread their joint message of peace. She’s a strong woman who witnessed the love of her life die unexpectedly right in front of her. She’s willing to let us see some of the most painful artifacts from that day, even though they bring up more bad feelings for her. “John Lennon: The New York Years” is open now at 76 Mercer St. in New York.
You can see some artifacts from the museum, including the bag of clothes, on The Daily Mail’s website.
Yoko Ono is shown at the opening of ‘Imagine Peace’ at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on 3/31/09.
