| Akemi Ohira |
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| Written by Marcello Rollando | ||||||
| Friday, 05 February 2010 16:05 | ||||||
Born Chinese, but in Japan, she received Japanese citizenship (no small accomplishment), but moved to the United States as a child, where she became an American citizen at Monticello on July 4th 1994. Thomas Jefferson would have been so proud. Growing up in the very different culture of the United States was at first a challenge, as communicating with children her age, all of whom spoke a language she could not possibly understand, she was forced to use familiar forms and shapes to decode her intentions to her classmates and new friends. However, the two years it took her to learn English to her satisfaction, (by repeatedly watching “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Sound of Music” and “The Blues Brothers”) tuned out to be an artistic blessing for her ever widening audience. Truly, the influences of Eastern and Western Cultures are interwoven in her art and her soul. Even in her choice of paper, for her multi-cultured printmaking works of art, she treasures the time honored tradition of handmade Japanese paper.
Her work encourages the observer to see beyond what the marketers of mass mind-set preach, ought to be. "I deconstruct and reconstruct forms so the public can observe the "new idea" through their own memories and experiences, thus denying an invasion of the preprogrammed, obvious." It is therefore through the visual language of her art, that Professor Ohira is best able to give a renaissance to the spirit of The Human Being.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 18 February 2010 17:08 |
The years were few in number, but the road was long, though blessed with guides for Akemi Ohira's journey to Charlottesville, Virginia.
While still very young, she lived a life filled with artistic expansion, in the face of bias & stereotyping. Yet thundering forward in a quest for knowledge, she fuelled her art with educational commentary and political insight.
The Reasonable Voice
Neither preacher, prophet nor politician am I, but beater of the drum, in celebration of the dreamers who dare to dream what was, and what we might become. One at a time the world we can change, if only we save ourselves from the manipulators of conflict and rage. Sailing onward, looking upward, always striding forward in constant pursuit of what we might be, on the next page. In service to the dreamers’ fulfillment of the dream, of those who dare to see what we can do to accomplish what we want to be. I'll aim to be the stone in your sling, whenever against the greed of Industry Goliaths you hurl, to save us all from an inhumane Corporate world. We all had dreams of grandeur once of how far we could go. Let us now recapture that essence and reignite our courage against the greedy foe. Now is always the greatest time to propel into action our best choices, so let us join together in transformation and raise our Reasonable Voices.
