Yoko Ono's first exhibition in India, called "Our Beautiful Daughters," at the Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, could also be called "Art Under Construction." All seven exhibits in the show, which opened on Thursday night, ask the spectators to participate in them.
"Remember Us" on the first floor is the special installation Ms. Ono made for India, consisting of a large, dimly lit room with casts of beheaded, dismembered women's bodies of different ages laid on pyre-like platforms. Small containers of ash at one end of the room seem to invite viewers to rub it on themselves or the bodies. At the end of the day, the bodies are covered with traditionally embroidered cloth made by Indian artisans - an important part of the art installation. One wall has "I am uncursed" splashed across it in black paint in different languages. Sounds from the Indian streets form the aural backdrop, making the experience at once provocative and surreal.
Laura Bradburn, a student from New York, said she was struck by how it captured her discomfort in India, where she feels "it falls on the women to cover themselves up and not the men to control themselves."
On the second floor are six of Ms. Ono's famous works that have appeared in galleries across the world. On opening night, there was also a group of female artisans from "rangSutra," a company that ensures a sustainable livelihood for traditional artisans and farmers, who made the cloth pieces used in the India installation. Their excitement was evident from the smiles they flashed, seated before a camera that is part of Ms. Ono's "Smiling Face Film." She has captured pictures of people smiling from several countries, and already has thousands of pictures from the Americas and Europe.
In the "Mend Piece" exhibit, broken pieces of crockery are laid out on a large table. Viewers of all ages were bent over trying to put them together with super glue and then carefully placing their creations in a showcase.
An undercurrent of undoing the effects of violence is also evident in "Heal Together," where a mounted, slashed canvas is sewn together by visitors.
Atul Dodiya, a renowned contemporary Indian artist who was at the opening, displayed a special interest in Ms. Ono's protest against violence, perhaps because he has created a series on Gandhi and his message of nonviolence himself. "She is one of the finest conceptual artists around," Mr. Dodiya said. "Without becoming obviously political, Yoko Ono has a lot to say."
So do the people who were busy writing messages for and about their mothers on blank canvases at the "My Mommy Is Beautiful" exhibit. Ms. Ono asks for translations of the messages, which are written in different languages on this canvas, after which she writes her own message.
It was clear looking around the gallery Thursday night, abuzz with people and art pieces created by many hands, that Ms. Ono's larger message required no special qualifications in conceptual art for visitors to engage with it or understand it.
On a terrace outside is "Voice Piece for Soprano," which invites people to "Scream. 1. against the wind 2. against the wall 3. against the sky." As I made my way out someone was screaming quite melodiously into the mike, "Imagine all the people living together as one.