Virginia Museum Exhibits 'Ichi-o Ichi-e'

A science teacher stands in a classroom that could be anywhere. As we search the setting for clues to place it in Japan or the United States, at first we see only test tubes, beakers, and numbers - a visual reminder that the language of science, like the language of images, is universal.

Ichi-o Ichi-e is on view in the Pauley Center at VMFA Jan 21-Mar 16, 2008.

Ichi-o ichi-e. This singular moment in time. This Japanese expression describes the fabric of a friendship, as well as the process of capturing it in photographs. When photographer Eric Norbom went to Saitama, Japan in 2003, he trained his lens on a variety of these moments in the life of Richmond, Virginia's sister city. When he returned to Virginia, he documented complimentary aspects of life in Saitama's American sister city. Focusing on Saitama's Municipal Urawa High School and Richmond 's Clover Hill High School, these black and white images reveal two distinct cities that share bonds that are often discovered in those singular moments. While the visual complexity of these 24 black and white photographs explores different aesthetics and ways of life in the two cities, the subjects are more similar than different.

The deep concentration of the teenaged Kendo practioner provides a counterpoint to the Clover Hill baseball catcher who intently watches his teammate at bat. The faces of the teachers, east and west, reflect the vigor and fatigue that always come with the job. Group shots of Japanese and American students in both settings teach a lesson in understanding and teamwork and prove that these qualities, in large enough quantities, are able to bridge such comparatively small barriers as language and distance. -- www.vmfa.state.va.us