Yas Immamura on illustrating Can You Imagine? The Art and Life of Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono, the world-renowned radical artist and activist is as daring, innovative, and boundary-breaking today as she was during her rise to prominence in the mid-1960’s - still passionately blurring the lines between art, politics and society.

Yas Imamura brings her story to life with expressive watercolor and gouache in Can You Imagine? The Art and Life of Yoko Ono. Written by Lisa Tolin, and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, this beautiful picture book captures Ono’s resilience and creativity. In this interview, Yas shares how she translated Yoko’s avant-garde spirit into her illustrations and what she hopes readers will take away.

Can you share your initial impressions of Yoko Ono’s art and life?

Reading about her through Lisa’s writing really opened my eyes to how much she had to overcome, both as a child and a woman and it made me understand her artistic spirit a bit more and the fierceness of her self-expression.

Yoko Ono is known for her avant-garde and conceptual art. How did you translate her unique artistic spirit into illustrations?

It was a fun challenge to have to embody her conceptual art in my own artistic style and in a way that can convey the story to children. I was inspired by how much she experiments and the expressionist way she approaches visual art.

I know that your preferred materials are gouache and watercolor. Were these the main materials you used for Can You Imagine? The Art and Life of Yoko Ono? Were there any specific techniques you employed to reflect Yoko’s artistic style?

Yes, I primarily used watercolor and gouache. I tried to also let go a bit more and be braver in my paint process and have a bit more fun with looser shapes and letting watercolor create these fluid patterns, the same way Yoko Ono’s character sort of flows through all of her endeavors.

Much of Yoko Ono’s work has heavy themes, including the horrors of war and profound personal loss. How did you go about illustrating this in a way that is honest and resonates with readers of all ages?

Incorporating the abstracted image of the bird as a consistent element throughout the book was a great way to infuse positivity and hope even through the darker turns in the story and the many abstracted ways I could represent this image in the pages really added an extra layer of interpretation that I think readers of all ages can appreciate.

Last year, I had the chance to visit the Yoko Ono exhibition at the Tate Modern, and I was deeply inspired, especially by her instructions. Have you ever had the chance to experience Yoko’s work? What are your favorite pieces?

I’ve not had the chance to really deep dive into Yoko Ono’s work but I love the sense of minimalism and design flow she infuses in her work. I really like her installations.

How did Lisa Tolin’s writing influence your illustrations? Were there particular aspects of her writing that guided your artistic decisions?

Lisa’s pacing was really inspiring to illustrate. It definitely guided me.

How has illustrating Can You Imagine? The Art and Life of Yoko Ono impacted you as an artist?

The experimentation I did with watercolour is something I still use now with other projects. It’s been fun!

What do you hope people take away from this book, both in terms of Yoko Ono’s story and the illustrations you’ve created?

I think Yoko Ono is going to inspire many generations of readers and it’s going to be great to have readers of all ages get to know this artist, through not only her visual art and music but also through her tenacious spirit as a woman.

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Take a look at Yas’s full portfolio here.

To work with Yas, get in contact with here agent Susan Penny here.