The Akron Art Museum pays tribute to late photographer Masumi Hayashi in Meditations: Two Pilgrimages, which opens today. The exhibit includes nine collages that document Hayashi’s visits to North American detainment camps, which were set up for Japanese immigrants during World War II. There are also pics of Buddhist temples in Asia. “The content is extremely personal,” says curator Barbara Tannenbaum. “One is an exploration of her family’s past — dealing with the pain of an unjust incarceration. The other is a pilgrimage to holy sites, as a way of seeking personal healing.” Hayashi and a neighbor were murdered last year by a crazed tenant in their Ohio City apartment building. At the time of her death, she was planning an exhibit of her work for the Akron Museum. Tannenbaum dedicates Meditations to Hayashi’s memory. (MOCA, Cleveland State University, and Spaces will open complementary Hayashi exhibits next month.) “It was a senseless and violent death for such a gentle soul,” says Tannenbaum. “We think of this as a celebration of her life as well as a memorial.”
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 1, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Starts: Oct. 27. Continues through Jan. 27, 2007

This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2007.