Yayoi Kusama, the highly regarded Japanese artist known for her iconic polka dots, has issued a heartfelt apology for racist comments she made about Black individuals in her 2003 autobiography.
Kusama, who is 94 years old, shared her apology with The San Francisco Chronicle in an article published last Friday ahead of her exhibition opening at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
“I deeply regret using hurtful and offensive language in my book,” expressed Kusama in her statement. “My art has always carried messages of love, hope, compassion, and respect for all individuals. It has been my lifelong intention to uplift humanity through my artistic expressions. I sincerely apologize for the pain I have caused.”
In her book titled “Infinity Net,” Kusama wrote degrading comments, stating that Black individuals possess a “distinctive smell” and engage in “animalistic sex techniques.” Additionally, she complained that her neighborhood in Greenwich Village, New York had deteriorated due to Black individuals “shooting each other out front.” However, this passage was omitted from the English translation.
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However, Kusama’s racist remarks extend beyond her book. A novel she wrote in 1984 includes fetishizing descriptions of the smells and genitalia of Black characters, while a play she authored in 1971 depicts the sole Black character as a “WILD-looking, hairy, coal-black savage.”
Kusama’s apology seems to have been motivated by a column published in the Chronicle the day prior. Soleil Ho, a staff writer, highlighted Kusama’s history of racism, which has largely been overshadowed by her popular large-scale pop art installations that attract enthusiastic crowds.
Black individuals who have interacted with the artist have previously drawn attention to her racist comments. In 2017, Dexter Thomas wrote an article for Vice News about his interview with Kusama, which ended with her staff banning him and the Vice News camera crew from further interaction. After the brief interview, Thomas received an email from her staff stating that Kusama considered his questions to be of “low-quality” and that he did not comprehend her work.
This experience left Thomas pondering whether his own Black identity influenced Kusama’s assumption that he could not understand her art, rendering him unfit to interview her, as he wrote in his article.
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