In 2023, we went to an exhibition called You, Me and the Balloons at the Aviva Studios in Manchester- it introduced us to the wonderful, colourful and eccentric artistic creations of Japanese artist Yayoi Kasuma. When we discovered that her latest show at the National Gallery of Victoria would coincide with our trip, well, we just had to go. It took a couple of attempts, with big queues and credit card challenges, but we made it.

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Polka dots everywhere – the trees around the NGV were wrapped in pink polka dots – adding an unusual twist to our walk to the gallery. Once inside, more polka dots and a giant pumpkin hinted at the colourful exhibits to come.

Yayoi’s artistic journey – the first part of the exhibition contained a snapshot of Yayoi’s early life then her journey from Japan to the USA – where she was influenced and was influenced by her life in New York. at the height of the pop art era. She created sculptures, paintings, fashion design, films and performance art. She tackled racism and misogyny, challenging the status quo with many of her creations. Themes of colour, reflections and polka dots came to the fore.

Infinity rooms – these are just wonderful – light, reflections, optical illusions. There were several to explore, each with beautiful descriptive titles, including My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light (created in 2024 and my favourite) and The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity will Eternally Cover the Universe (the one with the tentacles and created in 2019). Due to visitor numbers, there were a few queues and time was limited in each of the rooms, but the queueing was worth it.

Paintings and murals – although Yayoi Kusama has created smaller scale paintings throughout her career, there are a lot more from recent years, as her mobility has decreased. The final series of paintings in the exhibition featured several creations with the same underlying theme – Every Day I Pray for Love.

Big yellow pumpkins – pumpkins became a theme in Kasuma’s work from the very earliest days – a connection to her childhood in rural Japan. But there were also big yellow tentacles and lots of black polka dots in the exhibition too. Some of the strange floral sculptures gave off a Day of the Triffids vibe. Everything was wonderfully colourful.

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The life of an artist – Yayoi Kasuma has lived in the grounds of a mental health facility in Japan for much of the last 40 years. She has experienced depression and severe mental health challenges – but the process of creating her art is part of her daily life. I loved the final two quotes at the exit of the exhibition – she finds her motivation to create to bring joy, love, peace and hope to the world.

It certainly brought us joy to see this exhibition at the NGV.

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The NGV acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which it is built