Born in Tokyo and raised between Japan, Europe, and the United States, Setsuko Ono’s life has been shaped by global experiences that profoundly inform her art. After earning a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Sacred Heart in Tokyo and a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, she embarked on a distinguished 28-year career at the World Bank. During this time she pursued formal training at the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., although it was only after her retirement in 2003 that she began to exhibit her work publicly. She shares a deep connection to the Institute with her husband, Piero Gleijeses, a renowned historian of US foreign policy and fellow alumnus.
Setsuko Ono’s deep concern for justice took root early. In 1968, during her doctoral studies at the Institute, she traveled to the Middle East as part of a student delegation invited by the Arab League. Encounters with Palestinian refugees and visits to camps in Jordan left a profound impact. Witnessing children studying under tents, she was struck by the injustice of their situation — a memory that continues to inform her political consciousness and artistic practice. "The Palestinian question never left my mind," she recalls, a sentiment reflected in the political engagement of her later works.
Dreams, music, and the role of chance are essential to Setsuko Ono’s creative process. Influenced by her father’s love of classical music and her early exposure to avant-garde composer John Cage — whose philosophy of spontaneity left a lasting mark — Setsuko Ono allows each work to unfold organically, without detailed preliminary plans. Encouraged by her brother-in-law John Lennon, who recognised her passion and talent for sculpture, she embraced a career that celebrates improvisation and emotion.
Setsuko Ono works primarily in steel sculpture and painting. Though steel is traditionally associated with strength and solidity, she reimagines it as a medium of lightness, movement, and resilience. Her welded sculptures, often composed of delicate cut-out forms, capture fleeting moments of life: birds in flight, plants bending in the wind. Her paintings, rich in colour and texture, explore similarly dynamic themes but often with a more explicit political focus.
At the heart of Setsuko Ono’s work is a powerful engagement with human rights and social justice. Her paintings and sculptures often address the suffering of victims of war, poverty, and displacement, with particular focus on Palestine, Syria, and the Warsaw Ghetto. Her art becomes a bridge between personal memory and collective struggle, offering a space for reflection, empathy, and awareness.
Today, Setsuko Ono’s work continues to gain international recognition. Her sculptures are permanently installed in Baltimore, Havana, Tokyo, and the Hara Arc Museum in Shibukawa, Japan, and she has exhibited her art in the United States, Cuba, and Japan. Through her practice, she bridges art, activism, and global consciousness, offering a moving commentary on the struggles and hopes of our time.
