This piece is considered to be a landmark in performance art and feminist art. Ono

knelt on stage in her best suit and invited her audience to cut off pieces until she was down to her undergarments. This was done at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo. She sat still, unmoving, silent, till all the pieces of her suit were cut off. This work enticed the audiences to start conversing about topics like gender, materialism and cultural identity. It was also the first performance piece that addressed potential sexual violence in public (Fiesel, 2018). 

 

According to Ono, this piece was one where she tried to showcase the Buddhist

mentality with a feminist subtext, that women are often forced into silence and forced to give up everything. (Fiesel, 2018).

 

Tokyo -or most Asian countries in general- is rather conservative. To have such an

explicit display of skin and the act of cutting up another's clothing must have been quite the shocker, especially to the audience. Women, as Ono has mentioned, are often the ones that get forced into silence even if they are the ones being hurt. Even if bystanders see someone committing the offence, they just leave the offender alone because they do not want unnecessary trouble. The ignorance of the bystanders must be stopped - to step up, speak out and offer to help.