Oct. 9, 1998
Contact: Sylvia New Strawn
(804) 924-6122


"IDENTITY" AT U.VA.'S FAYERWEATHER GALLERY FEATURES THE WORK OF AKEMI
OHIRA

	Akemi Ohira, assistant professor in the University of Virginia's
McIntire Department of Art, reveals universal questions about life in
her show "Identity" at the Fayerweather Gallery. 
	The narrative quality of Ohira's work has developed through her
struggles to resolve contradictions between the Japanese culture she was
born into, her Chinese ancestry, and her American life.
	Ohira works quickly, reflecting her daily life, as if writing in
a diary. Her drawings, paintings, and mixed media images are more than
mere snapshots. She digests and analyses issues and transforms them into
her art.
	Her multi-perspective view developed from the way she was
brought up. "I had to explain things, look at the different issues. This
has resulted in my creation of open-ended images. My work is not a
frozen second in time. It has a before, middle, and after to it." 
	Lyn Bolen Rushton of Les Yeux du Monde Gallery in
Charlottesville says of Ohira's work, "Her most recent works of heroic
and pathetic characters engaged in their daily rounds or caught up in
the larger chronicle of life are eerily recognizable, suggesting
persisting truths about the human condition."
	An opening reception will be held Friday, Oct. 16, at 5:30 p.m.
The show runs from Oct. 12 through Nov. 6. Fayerweather Gallery is open
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

###

Television reporters should contact the TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.