An optical recording apparatus and a method of optical recording are disclosed in which: a DC voltage of a first polarity is applied, as a reset voltage for initializing a display layer, to one of a plurality of divided electrodes which is selected in a predetermined sequence along a specified direction, and reset light is irradiated onto a photoconductor layer in a region corresponding to the selected divided electrode; and a DC voltage of a second polarity opposite to the first polarity is applied, as an image writing voltage for writing an image in the display layer, to the selected divided electrode, and image light corresponding to input image information is irradiated onto the photoconductor layer in the region corresponding to the selected divided electrode. Also disclosed is an image display apparatus including the optical recording apparatus.