Nell Hudson

Nell Hudson Instagram – ‘Cut Piece’ – Yoko Ono, 1964
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I’m interested to hear people’s reactions. I felt very moved by it (even in recorded form, I’m sure the live experience would have been something else!) it felt like a metaphor for what being a woman feels like in general. I welled up. I wanted to push this smiling fellow away and protect her…
Earlier in the piece, women members of the audience cut pieces from Ono’s cardigan, as they were invited to, modest scraps that they then took away with them like relics. The women were slightly awkward and shifty about it all. This man seemed to enjoy the cutting. He doesn’t stop at the ‘one piece per person’ precedent set by those who went before him. He keeps cutting, snipping the straps of her camisole and bra until she is left cradling her breasts so they don’t fall out. He doesn’t take a little piece of cloth as a memento. He just leaves her there…
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Obvious parallels to Marina Abramovic work (which came later). (Any art people know if Abramovic has ever credited Ono as inspiration?) But whereas Abramovic seems to leave her body, transforming it into object for the purposes of her performance art, Ono remains very much a woman in her body during ‘Cut Piece’. It made it seem a little more like theatre.
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I enjoyed this exhibition very much and doing a piece for my substack next week about it. Thank you mum @cressidaconnolly for recommending! | Posted on 31/Aug/2024 14:54:17