Yoko Ono to help fight autism
Published 17 March, 2009, 19:36
A new mural by Yoko Ono titled “Promise” will be auctioned for charity at the UN’s headquarters next month.
The artist hopes the sale, which falls on the second World Autism Awareness Day, will raise money into research into the disease.
The event was founded by the UN to increase public awareness about autism and stressing the importance of early diagnosis and intervention. The unveiling and auction of Ono’s work of art will be held in New York on April 2, AFP reports.
Autism is a neuro-psychiatric development disorder which affects the functioning of the brain, and is usually diagnosed within the early years of a child’s life. The disease causes an inability to communicate and interact with others.
Yoko Ono
Ono was born in Tokyo in 1933 into a wealthy banker’s family.
She was raised and educated in both Japan and the United States. Later she became a renowned avant-garde conceptual artist and musician.
She is perhaps most famous for having married Beatle John Lennon, who was murdered in New York in 1980.
Tens of millions around the world suffer from it. The number of people with this disease has been rising in developed countries for the past two decades.
The picture by the 76-year-old widow of John Lennon will be cut into 58 fragments which will then be pieced back together when a cure for autism is found.
Separately, Yoko Ono is to be awarded the ‘Golden Lion’ at the Venetian Biennale of Modern Art. Organisers want to honour her as “the major artist of our time”, marking her contribution to fine arts during the second half of the 20th century.
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