YOKO ONO IN FOLKSTONE FOR AN ART EXHIBITION

• Widow of John Lennon visited the town for the Folkestone Triennial event
• Painter and artist says she thinks the town has 'this amazing energy'
• Folkestone is currently staging an exhibition about the First World War

By Yoko Ono

Liverpool is always very special to me because of John, and I love London, of course. But now I have added Folkestone to my list of special places. It's very surprising to me!

I was invited to visit because I have artworks in the Folkestone Triennial 2014.

I thought I was coming to a sleepy little town, but I found this amazing energy, so much activity - a kind of spiritual rising.

It's not just a beautiful place; it also has an incredible history linked to the First World War.A

Yoko Only gazes across the waterfront in Folkestone on her first visit to the Kent port-town

 

I went to pay my respects at the new Memorial Arch, and I think it's so powerful.

It was dedicated by Prince Harry in August to the fallen soldiers and nurses who walked down Remembrance Road to the harbour to go to war. There are crocheted red poppies on the railings lining the road, and it's very moving.

All the artworks from the Triennial are placed around the town, and they are part of daily life, instead of being a show in a museum. So you see them when you're shopping or walking on your way to work, it's very casual.

Folkestone is a town that wants the world to know that it likes art, that it is sensitive to art, and I wanted to promote that idea. I am invited to art events around the world, but I wanted to go to Folkestone because I believe in localisation, and I wanted to wave the flags for them. 

I made Earth Peace, one of my installations, to acknowledge the debt owed to those who died in the wars of the last century. The words are on a billboard by the railway station, and on a flag at the Grand hotel. There is also a light spelling out 'Earth Peace' in Morse code.

I wanted to acknowledge the soldiers who died in the First World War.

I saw old photos of them in a wonderful exhibition, Folkestone During The War, organised by the local History Society. I had gone to the Folkestone Library to see my other installation, Skyladder 2014, and when I went up the stairs I discovered the exhibition.

I learned that, during the First World War, the people of Folkestone took in 115,000 Belgian refugees who arrived by boat and were welcomed and treated very well. It was much more than double the population - how did they manage? That was quite something in those days. I found it moving.

In fact I was welcomed here myself once before, in 1966. It was the year I met John, and I came to the Metropole Arts Centre for what they now call performance art. It was very avant-garde and I didn't think anybody would understand it, but people here showed me smiles, and that was a sign for me.

There is something special about a town by the water. The sea air is very good for your health.

John's Aunt Mimi used to live at the seaside. When John became halfway successful, he bought a beautiful house for her at Poole in Dorset, overlooking the ocean.

As a child in Japan, I had a very special situation, because my mother had a summer house at the seaside in Kamakura. Now I live in New York, but Manhattan is an island, surrounded by water.

In Folkestone, there is a wonderful fish restaurant, Rocksalt, where I had a fabulous squid lunch. The setting by the harbour is amazing.

 

Over lunch we were discussing the fact that the guy who designed the CND peace sign, Gerald Holtom, is buried near here. He must have an incredibly strong vibe, and with all the vibrations of the other beautiful people I thought: 'No wonder!' I went there to give energy and it was the other way round! I got a lot back. It was a spiritual exchange, extremely positive, and it made me happy.

Visit Folkestone… it could cleanse your spirit.