Desert Guide

This work debuted in the year of Akino's death. The wind-wrought patttern in the sand is both reminiscent of a heat haze and of the flows of the great rivers of India that Akino had previously painted. It seems she was exceedingly fond of one guide in Africa who had intense, deeply chiselled facial features. Perhaps the man heading to the ends of the desert, dragging his long shadow behind him, is modeled on that guide. It may be that at this time, Akino looked at this man while remembering the figures of the sadhus (ascetics), Bauls (minstrels), and others she had met in India.