Yayoi Kusama, the highly regarded Japanese artist known for her trademark polka dots, has issued an apology for racist comments she made about Black people in her 2003 autobiography.

Kusama, 94, shared the apology with The San Francisco Chronicle in an article published last Friday ahead of her exhibition opening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

I deeply regret using hurtful and offensive language in my book, Kusama said in a statement. My message has always been one of love, hope, compassion, and respect for all people. My lifelong intention has been to lift up humanity through my art. I apologize for the pain I have caused.

In her book Infinity Net, Kusama wrote that Black people have a distinctive smell and animalistic sex techniques. She also complained that her Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York had turned into a slum because of Black people shooting each other out front, though that passage was left out of the English translation.