Lennon and Yoko Ono's story to be first told in Liverpool museum

LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Liverpool is to host the world's first exhibition telling the story of Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono in their own words in May, National Museums Liverpool (NML) said Tuesday.

The free exhibition opens at the waterfront Museum of Liverpool, the hometown of Lennon. The exhibition will explore the personal and creative chemistry of this iconic couple and their ongoing "Imagine Peace" campaign, said NML.

Lennon was shot in New York in 1980, and the year of 2018 would have been the 40th wedding anniversary of the legendary Lennon. The exhibition, Double Fantasy - John & Yoko, will open at the museum on May 18, 2018 and will continue till April 2019.

"I am so happy and grateful that we are having our Double Fantasy -John & Yoko show in Liverpool. This is where John was born and I know John would be very happy too," Yoko Ono Lennon said.

"It is a celebration of the meeting of two of the world's most creative artists who expressed their deep and powerful love for one another through their art, music and film," said a spokeswoman for NML.

"They used their fame and influence to campaign for peace and human rights across the world, transforming not only their own lives, but art, music and activism forever," said NML.

"We found that we were both very strongly interested in world peace. I feel John and I are still working together. I always feel his warmth next to me," Ono added.

Through interviews, quotes and lyrics, the story of their personal and creative relationship along with their political activism and peace campaigning, will be told in their own words for the very first time.

Rare exhibits on show are hand-written lyrics by Lennon, including In My Life, Give Peace a Chance, as well as Ono's artist book, Grapefruit, which she gave to John as a gift in 1966.

Featuring personal objects alongside art, music and film produced by Lennon and Ono, the exhibition is drawn from Ono's own private collection, some of which has never been displayed.

Original artworks, a handmade book Lennon made as a child, along with his distinctive line drawings, as well as Lennon's famous wire-rimmed glasses, will also be shown, along with Lennon's hard-won Green Card which allowed him into the United States.

"We were a very simple couple just loving each other every day and I just wanted to show the simple truth of us. In our personal life we were pretty simple people, and we made all sorts of things with love for each other. Everything was made out of love," said Ono.

There will also be a recreation of the Imagine Mosaic Circle from Strawberry Fields in New York's Central Park.

"We have worked closely with Ono and her team for several years to tell an intimate story of the couple's relationship and work, using her and John's words wherever it was possible," NML director Sharon Granville said. Enditem