Yayoi Kusama: The artist who painted infinity

Yayoi Kusama: The artist who painted infinity

September 4, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

The episode explores the life and work of Yayoi Kusama, her struggles with mental health, and features an interview with Tim Judah about Ratko Mladić.

The work of Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama is famed for its use of dots and inspired the likes of Andy Warhol. She was a work of art herself, often photographed wearing a bright orange wig and technicolour clothes covered in her signature polka dots. But, behind the canvas Yayoi was suffering with her mental health and spent almost five decades living in a psychiatric hospital. Frances Morris, the former Director of Tate Modern, now chair of the Gallery Climate Coalition, curated a retrospective exhibition of Kusama’s work. The Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić was jailed for life in 2017 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was known as the "Butcher of Bosnia" and infamously ordered the death of thousands of men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. The author and journalist Tim Judah met and interviewed Ratko Mladić and tells his story. When the actor Tim Curry slapped on full make up, donned fishnet stockings and corset and let loose his uniquely powerful voice, no one in the audience was ever going to forget meeting the Rocky Horror Show's Frank N Furter. Curry was born in Warrington in 1946 and his first acting job came after…

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