Pioneering Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has died at the age of 97. Kusama was known for her distinctive artistic style, which she openly stated was informed by her mental health and neurodivergence.
She began experiencing vivid hallucinations at the age of 10, describing them as "flashes of light, auras, or dense fields of dots." These experiences, including seeing patterns cover entire rooms and her body, became a central motif in her work, such as her signature dots and infinity rooms.
Kusama viewed art as a means of survival, once stating, "I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art." Her willingness to discuss her struggles and how they influenced her art, including voluntarily checking into a mental-health facility in Tokyo in the 1970s, helped to challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Her work is seen as having paved the way for greater recognition of neurodivergent artists. A spokesman for ActionSpace, an organisation supporting learning disabled artists, noted that artists like Kusama have shown that "great art does not come from a single source or follow a traditional route."