Yayoi Kusama, renowned Japanese artist known to some as 'the princess of polka dots' died in hospital on August 14, as confirmed by her studio this week. She was 97, and for most of her life she said there was one reason she was still alive. That was creating art.
Kusama chose to spend more than five decades living in a Tokyo psychiatric facility. She worked at a studio across the road, and consistently described her artistic practice as more than a career. She described it as the only thing that kept her pain, anxiety and fear under control.
