When Yoko Ono last visited India, it was in the 1970s, when she came with husband John Lennon. They had come to India to visit the ?camp? of the late Indian guru, Sai Baba. In her own words, she describes the visit as an ?incredible experience?, and remembers having ?a beautiful feeling about it.? After decades, the conceptual, avant-garde artist is back in India, which is ?waking up or rather has woken up already while other countries are still waking up?, with her first-ever show, titled Our Beautiful Daughters. The exhibition which is being hosted by the Vadehra Art Gallery will include a live performance by the artist herself and public art projects at over 20 venues in Delhi.

Our Beautiful Daughters is a special installation created by Ono for India on the challenges facing women. In a country where female foeticide is rampant and women lag behind men in literacy rate and development, Ono?s project carries a special resonance. To her, this show holds a special place in her heart as she understands ?the sufferings of women in India, which is also the suffering of women in other countries. Women have a unique quality…in this society, in this world…We have to hold on to woman power to survive in this world.?

A feminist much before her time, in her representations of women issues, Yoko Ono has managed to rattle staid sensibilities with her radical performances. Cut Piece is one of her most important feminist works, in which she sat passively on stage, while audience members slowly cut away at her clothes. First performed in 1964 at Yamaichi Concert Hall, Kyoto, Japan, this performance has been recapitulated many times. With its exploration of power dynamics and gender issues, it remains relevant till date. And it is not just replete with feminist interpretations, but also contains a strong message against violence. As Ono says, ?The struggle for world peace and women power is exactly parallel now.?

Till date, Yoko Ono?s name evokes the famous ?bed-in for peace? images, which she performed with John Lennon. A passionate contender for world peace, Ono hopes to extend her campaign to India. ?The more we waste our energy in war and politics, we are writing a doomsday scenario? The society is getting madder and madder… It is for us to make use of everybody?s energy to create a better world? When we create a society of freedom, justice and peace we will have world peace,? she says.

People usually tend to forget that before she became John Lennon?s wife, Ono was an established conceptual artist (and it is also usually forgotten that Lennon was her third husband) and one of the earliest members of Fluxus art. John Lennon once famously described his wife as ?the world?s most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does.? Partly, this is still true today. But, hopefully in India, Ono will leave an indelible mark through her avant-garde projects, her films, music and performance piece.

Ono?s exhibition in India also includes the popular Wish Trees, a project which has been going on since the 1990s at various exhibition venues. People from across the world have joined Ono in her and their search for world peace. Till date she has collected over a million wishes from across the world. She will also collect the India wishes and put them together with the rest of the wishes at the Imagine Peace Tower, the isle of Videy in Iceland, a memorial dedicated to Lennon in 2007.

Ono?s trademark has been interactive artwork: in India also her focus will be on audience participation and installation pieces. Apart from a special new installation with a focus on gender issue, the exhibition will also focus on some of Ono?s instruction-based works like My Mommy is Beautiful. This project features the public?s participation, which is a significant portion of the work.

The Seeds, will be a parallel exhibition, which will showcase some of Ono?s earlier work, films, collaborations with other artists, instructions, photographs, etc. This will encompass Ono?s journey as a path-breaking artist till the present day.

Apart from a series of public art projects and installations, Delhi?s audience will also get to witness Yoko Ono give one of her performances. To be held today at the India Habitat Centre, and titled To India with Love, it is to be seen if Ono will surprise the audience with one of her daring and radical performances.

Beautiful Daughters will also be a part of the India Art Fair 2012. The exhibtion will be on till March 10.