Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara has the art world’s attention. Her piercing, queer, indigeno... more Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara has the art world’s attention. Her piercing, queer, indigenous perspective offers new ways of storytelling, reframing history and asking the tough questions, writes Amanda Linnell. Published in VIVA magazine by the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday 20th August 2024.
The essay explores three works by the Japanese-Sāmoan interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and c... more The essay explores three works by the Japanese-Sāmoan interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and curator Yuki Kihara. More specifically it delves into Kihara’s reenactment of the taualuga, a traditional Sāmoan dance, as well of the mythological figure Salome, who wielded dance as a tool for political manipulation and became Kihara’s evolving alter-ego since 2002. Kihara’s performances and videos, particularly Siva in Motion and Galu Afi, address themes of mourning over colonialism’s impact on Pacific peoples, in the wake of the environmental crisis. Drawing on influences from ethnographic photography and Western theatrical traditions, Kihara’s works offer a critical perspective on identity and power dynamics, highlight the fluidity of gender and cultural identity, and invite audiences to reframe historical narratives and challenge colonial representations. Her performances also contribute to the most recent critique of the long-standing canonical approach to dance modernism as limited geographically to Western culture and to rethink it rather as a transtemporal and trans-local phenomenon. Lastly, Kihara’s engagement with the Sāmoan concept of vā—meaning the collapsing of time and space—contribute to the decolonisation of museums by engaging with alternative forms of historical representation and creating a conceptual space where historical pasts, community memory, and embodied knowledge coexist and interact.
I'm pleased to announce that my recent chapter entitled 'Vā Fealoa’i – Nurturing the Space Betwee... more I'm pleased to announce that my recent chapter entitled 'Vā Fealoa’i – Nurturing the Space Between People and Between People and Nature' has been translated into Japanese and published in Bijutsu Techo's July 2024 issue special feature on Contemporary Indigenous Art.
Founded in 1948, Bijutsu Techo is a monthly art magazine in Japanese. Content of the magazine includes exhibition news, reviews, artist interviews and special feature as well as a section on world news.
Fa'afetai tele lava to curator Machiko Harada, who served as the supervisor for this special issue, for the invitation to contribute my chapter for the publication.
-The 'Paradise Camp' exhibition by Yuki Kihara is an offering of superlative qualities, a creatio... more -The 'Paradise Camp' exhibition by Yuki Kihara is an offering of superlative qualities, a creation of astounding imagination that is as artistically and visually engaging as it is demanding in its themes and cultural perspectives.' - Tuiloma Neroni Slade.
Exhibition catalog published on the occasion for the return of the Paradise Camp exhibition by Yuki Kihara to Sāmoa presented at the Saletoga Sands Resort and Spa.
'Yuki Kihara: Fa’afafine artist brings thought-provoking exhibition to the islands' by By Vaimoan... more 'Yuki Kihara: Fa’afafine artist brings thought-provoking exhibition to the islands' by By Vaimoana Mase. Published in the NZ Herald, Wed 5 June 2024.
'Her art is held in some of the most prestigious museums around the world but it is taking her ex... more 'Her art is held in some of the most prestigious museums around the world but it is taking her exhibition Paradise Camp home to Samoa for Independence Day, that is the most meaningful of all for interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara who is of Japanese and Samoan descent.' - The Post
After a ‘Triumphant’ (The Art Newspaper) reception at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and tourin... more After a ‘Triumphant’ (The Art Newspaper) reception at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and touring the Powerhouse Museum in Gadigal land Sydney in 2023 described as being ‘Stunning’ by Time Out Sydney and ‘Must-See’ by Ocula; the award-winning Contemporary artist Yuki Kihara’s critically acclaimed exhibition entitled ‘Paradise Camp’ is touring the Independent State of Sāmoa.
‘Entelechy’
21 February – 9 March 2024
Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Ta... more ‘Entelechy’ 21 February – 9 March 2024 Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand https://www.webbs.co.nz/
Webb's cordially invites you to the launch of Entelechy: Great Women Artists, in our Wellington Gallery.
Entelechy is an exhibition of established and senior women artists from New Zealand and acts as a sampler of the diversity of contemporary art practice - in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and media.
Some of the artists included in this group show are: Gretchen Albrecht, Mary-Louise Browne, Jacqueline Fahey, Yuki Kihara, Julia Morison, Anne Noble, Ann Shelton, and Elizabeth Thomson among others.
‘Factory of tomorrow: Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile’s 5th Anniversary Exhibition’.
16 Mar... more ‘Factory of tomorrow: Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile’s 5th Anniversary Exhibition’. 16 March – 14 July 2024 Group Exhibition | Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile Hong Kong https://www.mill6chat.org Artists includes Ei Arakawa-Nash, Movana Chen, Kimberly Chong, Maggie Chu, Fyerool Darma, Ade Darmawan, Ho Rui An, Hou I-Ting, Iwasaki Takahiro, Jung Yeondoo, Kato Izumi, Yuki Kihara, Kobayashi Yuki, Frog King Kwok, Park Jeehee, Shao Chun, Scarlett Yang, Yee I-Lann, Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong. Curated by Takahashi Mizuki, Wang Weiwei and Eugenia Law Pik Yu.
'Paradise Camp' at the 59th Venice Biennale , 2022
Official Brochure for 'Paradise Camp' exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
An ensemble e... more Official Brochure for 'Paradise Camp' exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
An ensemble exhibition, Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia unravels colonial histories intersecting with gender politics and environmental concerns. Conceived eight years ago, Paradise Camp comprises a suite of twelve tableau photographs in saturated colour; a five-part episodic 'talk show' series whereby a group of Fa'afafine (Sāmoa's 'third gender') comment wittily on select Paul Gauguin paintings in First Impressions: Paul Gauguin interspersed with footage from Fa'afafine beauty pageants. The exhibition also includes a "Vārchive"-a term coined by Kihara that uses the Sāmoan concept of Vā to describe the space that unites separate entities. The Vārchive features posters, rare books by 19th century explorers, colonial replica portraits, pamphlets, news items, a geological sculpture and activist material. Depicted from the unique perspective of Fa'afafine, Kihara's performative photography upcycles select paintings by French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Kihara's audacious re-enactments deftly instil a Polynesian inflection to each photograph highlighted within scenography of dazzling costumes, a vibrant palette and richly tropical landscapes. Kihara's photo portraits, eloquently and provocatively investigate a range of critical issues including the intertwinements of colonisation, intersectionality and climate catastrophe.
An essay 'Project Banaba: A Dialogue on Exhibition Collaboration and Methods' by Katerina Teaiwa ... more An essay 'Project Banaba: A Dialogue on Exhibition Collaboration and Methods' by Katerina Teaiwa and Yuki Kihara published in the Journal of the Pacific Arts Association in 2022 translated in Chinese by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba—the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown—both in a historic and a contemporary sense—while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihar... more This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba-the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown-both in a historic and a contemporary sense-while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
It gives me great pleasure to announce my design collaboration entitled 'Fa'atasi' – a limited ed... more It gives me great pleasure to announce my design collaboration entitled 'Fa'atasi' – a limited edition capsule collection created in partnership with New York-based agency ‘Accompany’ commissioned by Searchlight Pictures to celebrate the launch of the feature film ‘Next Goal Wins’ directed by Taika Waititi.
The campaign led by Taika Waititi and Amerika Sāmoa’s national soccer team player & FIFA Ambassador Jaiyah Saelua celebrates the Fa'a Sāmoa ('Sāmoan Way') concept of ‘Fa’atasi’ or ‘Togetherness’ which alludes to the value of team work that’s necessary to achieve goals in life.
Previous clientele of Accompany, among others, includes Nespresso, Michael Kors, Universal Studios, and Jurassic Park film to name a few.
Paradise Camp, an immersive exhibition of Yuki Kihara's artworks first presented at the 59th Veni... more Paradise Camp, an immersive exhibition of Yuki Kihara's artworks first presented at the 59th Venice Biennale, was curated by Natalie King with Ioana Gordon-Smith, assistant Pasifika curator. Kihara is the first Pasifika, Asian, and faʻafafine ("in a manner of a woman," third gender) artist to represent Aotearoa/New Zealand at the international art show. Inspired by an essay by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the exhibition features twelve new photographic works alongside a "Vārchive" of the artist's research materials and a remix of a five-part "talk show" created in 2018. Through a camp aesthetic, Kihara presents a faʻafafine perspective that decolonizes paradise and gender, argues for community solidarity, and fosters intentional stewardship of the environment in response to climate change, among other topics. The Venice Biennale installation invokes the Sāmoan theory of vā and is accompanied by solidarity programming, an immersive website, and an extensive exhibition catalogue that signifies the tā-vā theory of reality, an Indigenous Moana framing. Written by Bernida Webb-Binder.
An article published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser profiling the 'Project Banaba' exhibition by... more An article published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser profiling the 'Project Banaba' exhibition by Katerina Teaiwa presented at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. https://www.bishopmuseum.org/project-banaba/
Rethinking Gender and the Ethnographic Museum,, 2023
This article examines critical ethnographic and archival elements of Paradise Camp, Yuki Kihara's... more This article examines critical ethnographic and archival elements of Paradise Camp, Yuki Kihara's highly celebrated Aotearoa New Zealand national pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2022. Through its scenography that in Kihara's words is "fa'afabulous," consisting of archival collages drawn from museum collections and staged photography made after Gauguin's paintings in collaboration with queer Sāmoan communities, we argue that Kihara's heavily annotated version of a so-called paradise assembled within Paradise Camp offers a 'potential museum' that reconnects the missing links between colonial registrations of the past with today's queer Sāmoan lives. This queer Indigenous reconfiguration of a fabulous paradise, which refuses imperial understandings of Pacific people and geographies, seems central to Paradise Camp's queer 'camp' effects, much like an eye roll that dethrones authority. Therefore, we propose that such an artist-fabulated museum lays claims to an Oceanic sovereignty, and broadly fosters a shared world for Fa'afafine and queer Pasifika peoples.
'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa at the Bishop Museum, 2023
Exhibition catalogue of 'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa. Featuring a talanoa between Katerina... more Exhibition catalogue of 'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa. Featuring a talanoa between Katerina Teaiwa, Joy Enomoto, Healoha Johnston, Yuki Kihara and Paige Okamura (DJ Mermaid) published by the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawai'i.
Project Banaba commemorates the history of Banaba Island, which was destroyed by environmentally ... more Project Banaba commemorates the history of Banaba Island, which was destroyed by environmentally devastating phosphate mining and led to the total relocation of its people. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi-Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum invites members of the news media to an exclusive pre-opening, closed-door preview of its new exhibition, Project Banaba.
'IN THE WAY OF A WOMAN' (2023) published in Art Collector (AUS) magazine with contributions from ... more 'IN THE WAY OF A WOMAN' (2023) published in Art Collector (AUS) magazine with contributions from Reuben Friend, Natalie King and Stephen Higginson.
Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara has the art world’s attention. Her piercing, queer, indigeno... more Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara has the art world’s attention. Her piercing, queer, indigenous perspective offers new ways of storytelling, reframing history and asking the tough questions, writes Amanda Linnell. Published in VIVA magazine by the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday 20th August 2024.
The essay explores three works by the Japanese-Sāmoan interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and c... more The essay explores three works by the Japanese-Sāmoan interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and curator Yuki Kihara. More specifically it delves into Kihara’s reenactment of the taualuga, a traditional Sāmoan dance, as well of the mythological figure Salome, who wielded dance as a tool for political manipulation and became Kihara’s evolving alter-ego since 2002. Kihara’s performances and videos, particularly Siva in Motion and Galu Afi, address themes of mourning over colonialism’s impact on Pacific peoples, in the wake of the environmental crisis. Drawing on influences from ethnographic photography and Western theatrical traditions, Kihara’s works offer a critical perspective on identity and power dynamics, highlight the fluidity of gender and cultural identity, and invite audiences to reframe historical narratives and challenge colonial representations. Her performances also contribute to the most recent critique of the long-standing canonical approach to dance modernism as limited geographically to Western culture and to rethink it rather as a transtemporal and trans-local phenomenon. Lastly, Kihara’s engagement with the Sāmoan concept of vā—meaning the collapsing of time and space—contribute to the decolonisation of museums by engaging with alternative forms of historical representation and creating a conceptual space where historical pasts, community memory, and embodied knowledge coexist and interact.
I'm pleased to announce that my recent chapter entitled 'Vā Fealoa’i – Nurturing the Space Betwee... more I'm pleased to announce that my recent chapter entitled 'Vā Fealoa’i – Nurturing the Space Between People and Between People and Nature' has been translated into Japanese and published in Bijutsu Techo's July 2024 issue special feature on Contemporary Indigenous Art.
Founded in 1948, Bijutsu Techo is a monthly art magazine in Japanese. Content of the magazine includes exhibition news, reviews, artist interviews and special feature as well as a section on world news.
Fa'afetai tele lava to curator Machiko Harada, who served as the supervisor for this special issue, for the invitation to contribute my chapter for the publication.
-The 'Paradise Camp' exhibition by Yuki Kihara is an offering of superlative qualities, a creatio... more -The 'Paradise Camp' exhibition by Yuki Kihara is an offering of superlative qualities, a creation of astounding imagination that is as artistically and visually engaging as it is demanding in its themes and cultural perspectives.' - Tuiloma Neroni Slade.
Exhibition catalog published on the occasion for the return of the Paradise Camp exhibition by Yuki Kihara to Sāmoa presented at the Saletoga Sands Resort and Spa.
'Yuki Kihara: Fa’afafine artist brings thought-provoking exhibition to the islands' by By Vaimoan... more 'Yuki Kihara: Fa’afafine artist brings thought-provoking exhibition to the islands' by By Vaimoana Mase. Published in the NZ Herald, Wed 5 June 2024.
'Her art is held in some of the most prestigious museums around the world but it is taking her ex... more 'Her art is held in some of the most prestigious museums around the world but it is taking her exhibition Paradise Camp home to Samoa for Independence Day, that is the most meaningful of all for interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara who is of Japanese and Samoan descent.' - The Post
After a ‘Triumphant’ (The Art Newspaper) reception at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and tourin... more After a ‘Triumphant’ (The Art Newspaper) reception at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and touring the Powerhouse Museum in Gadigal land Sydney in 2023 described as being ‘Stunning’ by Time Out Sydney and ‘Must-See’ by Ocula; the award-winning Contemporary artist Yuki Kihara’s critically acclaimed exhibition entitled ‘Paradise Camp’ is touring the Independent State of Sāmoa.
‘Entelechy’
21 February – 9 March 2024
Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Ta... more ‘Entelechy’ 21 February – 9 March 2024 Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand https://www.webbs.co.nz/
Webb's cordially invites you to the launch of Entelechy: Great Women Artists, in our Wellington Gallery.
Entelechy is an exhibition of established and senior women artists from New Zealand and acts as a sampler of the diversity of contemporary art practice - in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and media.
Some of the artists included in this group show are: Gretchen Albrecht, Mary-Louise Browne, Jacqueline Fahey, Yuki Kihara, Julia Morison, Anne Noble, Ann Shelton, and Elizabeth Thomson among others.
‘Factory of tomorrow: Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile’s 5th Anniversary Exhibition’.
16 Mar... more ‘Factory of tomorrow: Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile’s 5th Anniversary Exhibition’. 16 March – 14 July 2024 Group Exhibition | Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile Hong Kong https://www.mill6chat.org Artists includes Ei Arakawa-Nash, Movana Chen, Kimberly Chong, Maggie Chu, Fyerool Darma, Ade Darmawan, Ho Rui An, Hou I-Ting, Iwasaki Takahiro, Jung Yeondoo, Kato Izumi, Yuki Kihara, Kobayashi Yuki, Frog King Kwok, Park Jeehee, Shao Chun, Scarlett Yang, Yee I-Lann, Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong. Curated by Takahashi Mizuki, Wang Weiwei and Eugenia Law Pik Yu.
'Paradise Camp' at the 59th Venice Biennale , 2022
Official Brochure for 'Paradise Camp' exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
An ensemble e... more Official Brochure for 'Paradise Camp' exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
An ensemble exhibition, Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia unravels colonial histories intersecting with gender politics and environmental concerns. Conceived eight years ago, Paradise Camp comprises a suite of twelve tableau photographs in saturated colour; a five-part episodic 'talk show' series whereby a group of Fa'afafine (Sāmoa's 'third gender') comment wittily on select Paul Gauguin paintings in First Impressions: Paul Gauguin interspersed with footage from Fa'afafine beauty pageants. The exhibition also includes a "Vārchive"-a term coined by Kihara that uses the Sāmoan concept of Vā to describe the space that unites separate entities. The Vārchive features posters, rare books by 19th century explorers, colonial replica portraits, pamphlets, news items, a geological sculpture and activist material. Depicted from the unique perspective of Fa'afafine, Kihara's performative photography upcycles select paintings by French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Kihara's audacious re-enactments deftly instil a Polynesian inflection to each photograph highlighted within scenography of dazzling costumes, a vibrant palette and richly tropical landscapes. Kihara's photo portraits, eloquently and provocatively investigate a range of critical issues including the intertwinements of colonisation, intersectionality and climate catastrophe.
An essay 'Project Banaba: A Dialogue on Exhibition Collaboration and Methods' by Katerina Teaiwa ... more An essay 'Project Banaba: A Dialogue on Exhibition Collaboration and Methods' by Katerina Teaiwa and Yuki Kihara published in the Journal of the Pacific Arts Association in 2022 translated in Chinese by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba—the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown—both in a historic and a contemporary sense—while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihar... more This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba-the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown-both in a historic and a contemporary sense-while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
It gives me great pleasure to announce my design collaboration entitled 'Fa'atasi' – a limited ed... more It gives me great pleasure to announce my design collaboration entitled 'Fa'atasi' – a limited edition capsule collection created in partnership with New York-based agency ‘Accompany’ commissioned by Searchlight Pictures to celebrate the launch of the feature film ‘Next Goal Wins’ directed by Taika Waititi.
The campaign led by Taika Waititi and Amerika Sāmoa’s national soccer team player & FIFA Ambassador Jaiyah Saelua celebrates the Fa'a Sāmoa ('Sāmoan Way') concept of ‘Fa’atasi’ or ‘Togetherness’ which alludes to the value of team work that’s necessary to achieve goals in life.
Previous clientele of Accompany, among others, includes Nespresso, Michael Kors, Universal Studios, and Jurassic Park film to name a few.
Paradise Camp, an immersive exhibition of Yuki Kihara's artworks first presented at the 59th Veni... more Paradise Camp, an immersive exhibition of Yuki Kihara's artworks first presented at the 59th Venice Biennale, was curated by Natalie King with Ioana Gordon-Smith, assistant Pasifika curator. Kihara is the first Pasifika, Asian, and faʻafafine ("in a manner of a woman," third gender) artist to represent Aotearoa/New Zealand at the international art show. Inspired by an essay by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the exhibition features twelve new photographic works alongside a "Vārchive" of the artist's research materials and a remix of a five-part "talk show" created in 2018. Through a camp aesthetic, Kihara presents a faʻafafine perspective that decolonizes paradise and gender, argues for community solidarity, and fosters intentional stewardship of the environment in response to climate change, among other topics. The Venice Biennale installation invokes the Sāmoan theory of vā and is accompanied by solidarity programming, an immersive website, and an extensive exhibition catalogue that signifies the tā-vā theory of reality, an Indigenous Moana framing. Written by Bernida Webb-Binder.
An article published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser profiling the 'Project Banaba' exhibition by... more An article published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser profiling the 'Project Banaba' exhibition by Katerina Teaiwa presented at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. https://www.bishopmuseum.org/project-banaba/
Rethinking Gender and the Ethnographic Museum,, 2023
This article examines critical ethnographic and archival elements of Paradise Camp, Yuki Kihara's... more This article examines critical ethnographic and archival elements of Paradise Camp, Yuki Kihara's highly celebrated Aotearoa New Zealand national pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2022. Through its scenography that in Kihara's words is "fa'afabulous," consisting of archival collages drawn from museum collections and staged photography made after Gauguin's paintings in collaboration with queer Sāmoan communities, we argue that Kihara's heavily annotated version of a so-called paradise assembled within Paradise Camp offers a 'potential museum' that reconnects the missing links between colonial registrations of the past with today's queer Sāmoan lives. This queer Indigenous reconfiguration of a fabulous paradise, which refuses imperial understandings of Pacific people and geographies, seems central to Paradise Camp's queer 'camp' effects, much like an eye roll that dethrones authority. Therefore, we propose that such an artist-fabulated museum lays claims to an Oceanic sovereignty, and broadly fosters a shared world for Fa'afafine and queer Pasifika peoples.
'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa at the Bishop Museum, 2023
Exhibition catalogue of 'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa. Featuring a talanoa between Katerina... more Exhibition catalogue of 'Project Banaba' by Katerina Teaiwa. Featuring a talanoa between Katerina Teaiwa, Joy Enomoto, Healoha Johnston, Yuki Kihara and Paige Okamura (DJ Mermaid) published by the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawai'i.
Project Banaba commemorates the history of Banaba Island, which was destroyed by environmentally ... more Project Banaba commemorates the history of Banaba Island, which was destroyed by environmentally devastating phosphate mining and led to the total relocation of its people. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi-Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum invites members of the news media to an exclusive pre-opening, closed-door preview of its new exhibition, Project Banaba.
'IN THE WAY OF A WOMAN' (2023) published in Art Collector (AUS) magazine with contributions from ... more 'IN THE WAY OF A WOMAN' (2023) published in Art Collector (AUS) magazine with contributions from Reuben Friend, Natalie King and Stephen Higginson.
This issue of Lagoonscapes binds thinkers, scholars, artists, activists, policymakers and curator... more This issue of Lagoonscapes binds thinkers, scholars, artists, activists, policymakers and curators from Venice and the Pacific in a holistic way, in dialogue and with converging views and vantage points, discussing human/non-human relationships, cross-disciplinary dialogues and ancestral epistemologies. First-hand knowledge and experiences shift the perspective from rigid academic and institutional structures to personal ruminations on the injuries of colonisation. One of the aims of this special issue of Lagoonscapes is to decentralise and provincialise such ‘Man-as-human’ as the subject/object of inquiry, and thus counter and reframe established geographies, histories and temporalities. https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/the-venice-journal-of-environmental-humanities/
Lagoonscapes The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities, 2023
The special issue of Lagoonscapes edited by Natalie King and Francesca Tarocco highlights the iss... more The special issue of Lagoonscapes edited by Natalie King and Francesca Tarocco highlights the issues raised during the 'Talanoa Forum: Swimming Against the Tide' led by artist Yuki Kihara presented during the presentation of her solo exhibition entitled 'Paradise Camp' presented during the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.
‘One of the most remarkable names to emerge from this year’s Venice Biennale is interdisciplinary... more ‘One of the most remarkable names to emerge from this year’s Venice Biennale is interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara. The first fa’afafine (the Samoan term for third gender), Pasifika, and Asian artist to represent New Zealand there, Kihara reframes history through a contemporary, queer, Indigenous lens (don’t miss her new book, Paradise Camp).’ – Elle (US) magazine June/July 2022.
Description
Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara's work interrogates and dismantles gender roles... more Description
Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara's work interrogates and dismantles gender roles, (mis)representation, and colonial legacies in the Pacific. Kihara is the first Pasifika and first Fa'afafine artist to be presented by New Zealand at the prestigious 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, with a groundbreaking exhibition of new work that addresses some of the most pressing issues of our time.
For this companion publication to the exhibition, editor Natalie King has commissioned contributors from around the world to explore the interwoven strands running through Kihara's art: race, gender, place, decolonisation, environment, agency, community. The book contextualises Kihara's lifetime of works, which camp, expose, queer and question dominant narratives, turning so-called history on its head.
The book contains contributions from Tahiti to Aotearoa. High-profile contributors include New York-based C uban artist, scholar and activist C oco Fusco, Tahitian author C hantal Spitz, Filipino curator and professor Patrick Flores, and Australian arts leader Natalie King OAM (who edited the book).
Choreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Art, 2021
Chapter 7 entitled ʻWalking the Wall and Crossing the Threshold: Angela Tiatia, Kalisolaite ‘Uhil... more Chapter 7 entitled ʻWalking the Wall and Crossing the Threshold: Angela Tiatia, Kalisolaite ‘Uhila and Shigeyuki Kihara’s Counter-Hegemonic Choreographiesʻ featured in the publication entitled ʻChoreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Artʻ by Victoria Wynne-Jones published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Yuki Kihara’s 2016 work Der Papālagi (The White Man) provides a critical reap- propriation of an ... more Yuki Kihara’s 2016 work Der Papālagi (The White Man) provides a critical reap- propriation of an early twentieth-century account of a Samoan chief and his views on “white people” and the artifice of European “civilization.” This work was popular as an invocation of island paradise that appealed to German sensibili- ties of the time. It has, however, been revealed as a literary masquerade written by Erich Scheurmann, who resided briefly in Sāmoa in the early twentieth cen- tury. This tale has been further interpreted in a photographic project by artist Yuki Kihara who uses it to reexplore contemporary evocations of paradise and to disrupt hierarchical relations through a series of racial crossings and inversions of looking relations that work to provincialize boundaries of race and question understandings of cultural appropriation. In both Scheurmann’s and Kihara’s works, as well as in the collaborative project of writing this essay, the dynamics of possessing paradise via colonial imaginaries, neocolonial leisure industries, and the practice of ethnography are explored to highlight the complexities of exploita- tion, cultural ownership, and desire. keywords: race, neocolonialism, Sāmoa, cultural appropriation, paradise, cross- dressing performances
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/viva/culture/from-samoa-to-moma-why-yuki-kihara-is-the-most-prolific-pacific-artist-in-the-world-right-now/II46W2SSFZAPXDFPOIDDL7Z65E/?fbclid=IwY2xjawExJudleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHV0_4jZcDNEjzlS9lV0Ep3bBCnoP1RxmAN7Su3yW6UuyXCKwSU8Wa1GHmw_aem_sLz2aupKIvm92rNAQyyWXQ
Founded in 1948, Bijutsu Techo is a monthly art magazine in Japanese. Content of the magazine includes exhibition news, reviews, artist interviews and special feature as well as a section on world news.
Fa'afetai tele lava to curator Machiko Harada, who served as the supervisor for this special issue, for the invitation to contribute my chapter for the publication.
https://bijutsu.press/books/5481/
Exhibition catalog published on the occasion for the return of the Paradise Camp exhibition by Yuki Kihara to Sāmoa presented at the Saletoga Sands Resort and Spa.
https://paradisecamp.ws
interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara who is of Japanese and Samoan descent.' - The Post
21 February – 9 March 2024
Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Aotearoa New Zealand
https://www.webbs.co.nz/
Webb's cordially invites you to the launch of Entelechy: Great Women Artists, in our Wellington Gallery.
Entelechy is an exhibition of established and senior women artists from New Zealand and acts as a sampler of the diversity of contemporary art practice - in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and media.
Some of the artists included in this group show are: Gretchen Albrecht, Mary-Louise Browne, Jacqueline Fahey, Yuki Kihara, Julia Morison, Anne Noble, Ann Shelton, and Elizabeth Thomson among others.
16 March – 14 July 2024
Group Exhibition | Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile
Hong Kong
https://www.mill6chat.org
Artists includes Ei Arakawa-Nash, Movana Chen, Kimberly Chong, Maggie Chu, Fyerool Darma, Ade Darmawan, Ho Rui An, Hou I-Ting, Iwasaki Takahiro, Jung Yeondoo, Kato Izumi, Yuki Kihara, Kobayashi Yuki, Frog King Kwok, Park Jeehee, Shao Chun, Scarlett Yang, Yee I-Lann, Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong. Curated by Takahashi Mizuki, Wang Weiwei and Eugenia Law Pik Yu.
An ensemble exhibition, Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia unravels colonial histories intersecting with gender politics and environmental concerns. Conceived eight years ago, Paradise Camp comprises a suite of twelve tableau photographs in saturated colour; a five-part episodic 'talk show' series whereby a group of Fa'afafine (Sāmoa's 'third gender') comment wittily on select Paul Gauguin paintings in First Impressions: Paul Gauguin interspersed with footage from Fa'afafine beauty pageants. The exhibition also includes a "Vārchive"-a term coined by Kihara that uses the Sāmoan concept of Vā to describe the space that unites separate entities. The Vārchive features posters, rare books by 19th century explorers, colonial replica portraits, pamphlets, news items, a geological sculpture and activist material. Depicted from the unique perspective of Fa'afafine, Kihara's performative photography upcycles select paintings by French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Kihara's audacious re-enactments deftly instil a Polynesian inflection to each photograph highlighted within scenography of dazzling costumes, a vibrant palette and richly tropical landscapes. Kihara's photo portraits, eloquently and provocatively investigate a range of critical issues including the intertwinements of colonisation, intersectionality and climate catastrophe.
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba—the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown—both in a historic and a contemporary sense—while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
The campaign led by Taika Waititi and Amerika Sāmoa’s national soccer team player & FIFA Ambassador Jaiyah Saelua celebrates the Fa'a Sāmoa ('Sāmoan Way') concept of ‘Fa’atasi’ or ‘Togetherness’ which alludes to the value of team work that’s necessary to achieve goals in life.
Previous clientele of Accompany, among others, includes Nespresso, Michael Kors, Universal Studios, and Jurassic Park film to name a few.
Discover the 'Fa'atasi' capsule collection here: www.accompanyus.com
Read about the 'Fa'atasi' capsule collection featured on Variety here: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/taika-waititis-next-goal-wins-capsule-soccer-collection-1235790269/
https://www.bishopmuseum.org/project-banaba/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/viva/culture/from-samoa-to-moma-why-yuki-kihara-is-the-most-prolific-pacific-artist-in-the-world-right-now/II46W2SSFZAPXDFPOIDDL7Z65E/?fbclid=IwY2xjawExJudleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHV0_4jZcDNEjzlS9lV0Ep3bBCnoP1RxmAN7Su3yW6UuyXCKwSU8Wa1GHmw_aem_sLz2aupKIvm92rNAQyyWXQ
Founded in 1948, Bijutsu Techo is a monthly art magazine in Japanese. Content of the magazine includes exhibition news, reviews, artist interviews and special feature as well as a section on world news.
Fa'afetai tele lava to curator Machiko Harada, who served as the supervisor for this special issue, for the invitation to contribute my chapter for the publication.
https://bijutsu.press/books/5481/
Exhibition catalog published on the occasion for the return of the Paradise Camp exhibition by Yuki Kihara to Sāmoa presented at the Saletoga Sands Resort and Spa.
https://paradisecamp.ws
interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara who is of Japanese and Samoan descent.' - The Post
21 February – 9 March 2024
Group Exhibition | Webb’s Auction House, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Aotearoa New Zealand
https://www.webbs.co.nz/
Webb's cordially invites you to the launch of Entelechy: Great Women Artists, in our Wellington Gallery.
Entelechy is an exhibition of established and senior women artists from New Zealand and acts as a sampler of the diversity of contemporary art practice - in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and media.
Some of the artists included in this group show are: Gretchen Albrecht, Mary-Louise Browne, Jacqueline Fahey, Yuki Kihara, Julia Morison, Anne Noble, Ann Shelton, and Elizabeth Thomson among others.
16 March – 14 July 2024
Group Exhibition | Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile
Hong Kong
https://www.mill6chat.org
Artists includes Ei Arakawa-Nash, Movana Chen, Kimberly Chong, Maggie Chu, Fyerool Darma, Ade Darmawan, Ho Rui An, Hou I-Ting, Iwasaki Takahiro, Jung Yeondoo, Kato Izumi, Yuki Kihara, Kobayashi Yuki, Frog King Kwok, Park Jeehee, Shao Chun, Scarlett Yang, Yee I-Lann, Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong. Curated by Takahashi Mizuki, Wang Weiwei and Eugenia Law Pik Yu.
An ensemble exhibition, Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia unravels colonial histories intersecting with gender politics and environmental concerns. Conceived eight years ago, Paradise Camp comprises a suite of twelve tableau photographs in saturated colour; a five-part episodic 'talk show' series whereby a group of Fa'afafine (Sāmoa's 'third gender') comment wittily on select Paul Gauguin paintings in First Impressions: Paul Gauguin interspersed with footage from Fa'afafine beauty pageants. The exhibition also includes a "Vārchive"-a term coined by Kihara that uses the Sāmoan concept of Vā to describe the space that unites separate entities. The Vārchive features posters, rare books by 19th century explorers, colonial replica portraits, pamphlets, news items, a geological sculpture and activist material. Depicted from the unique perspective of Fa'afafine, Kihara's performative photography upcycles select paintings by French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Kihara's audacious re-enactments deftly instil a Polynesian inflection to each photograph highlighted within scenography of dazzling costumes, a vibrant palette and richly tropical landscapes. Kihara's photo portraits, eloquently and provocatively investigate a range of critical issues including the intertwinements of colonisation, intersectionality and climate catastrophe.
This is a discussion between artist and scholar Katerina Teaiwa and artist and curator Yuki Kihara about their collaborative exhibition Project Banaba—the origins of the project, the exhibition process, and its various iterations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and beyond between 2017 and 2022. First staged at Carriageworks in Sydney, the multimedia exhibition follows the historical path of colonial-era phosphate mining on Banaba; phosphate fertiliser production, distribution, and consumption; displaced Banaban life; and associated archives, images, stories, and media. Project Banaba engages the communities where it is shown—both in a historic and a contemporary sense—while reflecting on imperialism, the movement of Indigenous lands and peoples through mining, the complicated Indigenous kinships resulting from this history, and the cultural revitalization and resilience of Banabans and other Pacific Islanders.
The campaign led by Taika Waititi and Amerika Sāmoa’s national soccer team player & FIFA Ambassador Jaiyah Saelua celebrates the Fa'a Sāmoa ('Sāmoan Way') concept of ‘Fa’atasi’ or ‘Togetherness’ which alludes to the value of team work that’s necessary to achieve goals in life.
Previous clientele of Accompany, among others, includes Nespresso, Michael Kors, Universal Studios, and Jurassic Park film to name a few.
Discover the 'Fa'atasi' capsule collection here: www.accompanyus.com
Read about the 'Fa'atasi' capsule collection featured on Variety here: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/taika-waititis-next-goal-wins-capsule-soccer-collection-1235790269/
https://www.bishopmuseum.org/project-banaba/
For more information visit:
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/the-venice-journal-of-environmental-humanities/
Interdisciplinary artist Yuki Kihara's work interrogates and dismantles gender roles, (mis)representation, and colonial legacies in the Pacific. Kihara is the first Pasifika and first Fa'afafine artist to be presented by New Zealand at the prestigious 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, with a groundbreaking exhibition of new work that addresses some of the most pressing issues of our time.
For this companion publication to the exhibition, editor Natalie King has commissioned contributors from around the world to explore the interwoven strands running through Kihara's art: race, gender, place, decolonisation, environment, agency, community. The book contextualises Kihara's lifetime of works, which camp, expose, queer and question dominant narratives, turning so-called history on its head.
The book contains contributions from Tahiti to Aotearoa. High-profile contributors include New York-based C uban artist, scholar and activist C oco Fusco, Tahitian author C hantal Spitz, Filipino curator and professor Patrick Flores, and Australian arts leader Natalie King OAM (who edited the book).
keywords: race, neocolonialism, Sāmoa, cultural appropriation, paradise, cross- dressing performances