John Lennon and Yoko Ono's anti-Vietnam war 'Bed-In' photos on display in Málaga
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's anti-Vietnam war 'Bed-In' photos on display in Málaga
A NEW exhibition in Málaga features legendary photos of the late Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono protesting over the Vietnam war in a hotel room in 1969.
The display, John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Suite 1742 has been opened at the La Térmica cultural centre in the Costa del Sol city and all shots were taken by legendary photographer Bruno Vagnini, who is named as the author.
Black and white snaps of the peaceful protest referred to as a 'Bed-In' show Lennon and Ono, recently married, sitting on a bed in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal, Québéc during their 'peace campaign' which gave rise to the iconic song Give peace a chance.
With these photos and their live performances, Yoko and John started their campaign in Amsterdam and hoped to take it to New York, but President Nixon would not allow them on US soil because of their having been arrested for drug possession in the UK a few months previously.
Lennon said later that he and Ono 'were very naïve' and 'thought they could stop the war'.
Unable to get into the USA directly, the couple travelled to the Bahamas and from there to Québéc, Canada, although authorities told them they were not allowed into the country.
The couple and their manager appealed against what they called a 'persecution', and in the 10 days it took them to get a response to their appeal, they were able to check into the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and stage their protest.
Now, the Málaga exhibition relives these turbulent moments and shows the couple in 18 different poses, plus a handful of campaign pictures featuring Yoko Ono's daughter Kyoto in the next bedroom.
Photographer Bruno Vagnani was just 19 at the time the pictures were taken, and said he and a friend had decided to have a go at getting into the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, armed with just a recently-purchased Nikon and a 36-picture film roll, and not expecting to get very far.
Vagnani said there was only one police officer, who was nearing the end of his shift, so they walked up the stairs to the 17th floor and knocked on Lennon and Ono's door.
He even believes there was a conspiracy theory in the USA behind Lennon's sudden death, because his pro-peace messages 'upset authorities' in the country.
In addition, the exhibition shows numerous documents, pictures and other memorabilia by Beatle fan and collector Rodrigo Gutiérrez Viñuales, plus photos of the Plastic Ono Band by Andrew MacLear – including one from 1968 featuring Charlie Watts, Eric Clapton and Brian Jones.
Photograph: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. From Wikimedia Commons (Nationaal Archief, ANEFO photo centre, Den Haag, Netherlands)
