Escaping a traumatic family upbringing in Japan, a young female artist hit 1960s New York determined to succeed. Propelled by a psychological need to make art for her own survival, Yayoi Kusama’s extraordinary career has traversed highs and deep lows. Widely known for her polka dot covered realities, she also staged public political happenings as well as gate-crashing the Venice Biennale with an uninvited outdoor work. Routinely copied by male contemporaries such as Andy Warhol, she faced enormous hurdles of racism and sexism in the post-World War II American art world. Yet her relentless pursuit of recognition, and her ground-breaking use of participatory installation, eventually led her to the fame she deserves.