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One (#294)

Artist Ken Ohara (Japanese, born 1942)
Date1970
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 8 5/8 × 7 1/4 inches (21.91 × 18.42 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.32 cm)
Framed: 10 7/8 × 8 7/8 inches (27.62 × 22.54 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.4343
SignedSigned on sheet recto, lower right, in pencil; Signed on sheet verso, center, in pencil.
InscribedOn sheet verso, top, in pencil:" "One" - 1970 / #294"; On sheet verso, lower left corner, in pencil: "294".
Markingsnone
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionDetail image of a young woman's face with a neutral expression.Gallery Label

Ken Ohara’s series One includes over five hundred black and white portraits. In every photograph, Ohara closely cropped his subjects’ faces and aligned their eyes at a fixed, constant position. His system suggests both meaningful physical similarities and individual variety among his subjects. The approach evokes that of an archive that divides and classifies. Ultimately, however, Ohara’s visual "evidence" points to the messiness and ambiguity of categories like race, ethnicity, social status, or gender.

Copyright© Ken Ohara
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One (#200)
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One (#383)
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2005.27.4344
One (#8)
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