INFO
Name | Yuki Kihara (she/her/suga) |
Also known as | Shigeyuki Kihara |
Born | 1975 |
Country of Birth | Sāmoa |
Place of Residence | Sāmoa |
Ethnicities | Sāmoan, Japanese |
Dealer Gallery | Milford Galleries |
Artform | Visual arts |
Decades Active | 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist and curator, now based in Sāmoa. Her work has been shown internationally from early in her career, and she was selected to be the New Zealand representative at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, where she presented the multimedia installation Paradise Camp.
Kihara is Sāmoan-Japanese, with strong links to Aotearoa, and embedded in her practice is an interest in the relationships between these cultures — paying particular attention to themes of identity, colonialism, and gender. Many works explore Kihara’s fa’afafine identity (a Sāmoan third-gender, which can be translated as “in the manner of a woman”) and respond to historical depictions of Sāmoan women and fa’afafine by European artists and colonial photographers. In 2018, Kihara explained, “I wanted to provide a platform where Fa’afafine can contribute to artistic, social and political dialogue in the current cultural landscape in Samoa that continues to see Fa’afafine from a singular and narrow perspective”.
Kihara was born in Sāmoa, to a Sāmoan mother and a Japanese father, and the family also spent time living in Japan during Kihara’s childhood. At the age of 15, Kihara moved to Pōneke Wellington to continue her education and studied fashion design at Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University). In 1995, when Kihara was still a student, her work Graffiti Dress — Bombacific was acquired by Te Papa for its collections. Even this early work displays Kihara’s continued interest in the power of garments and adornment as political tools.
After graduating, Kihara’s practice expanded beyond garment-making to include photography, dance, performance art, video, and installation. In 2008, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City presented Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, which was the first solo exhibition of work by a New Zealand artist, and the first solo exhibition of work by a living Pacific artist. Many of the characteristics of Kihara’s ongoing practice featured in the exhibition, particularly the blend of historical and contemporary elements.
Sometimes Kihara’s performances, photographs and videos feature Kihara herself, inhabiting personas such as Salome, a 19th-century Sāmoan woman, inspired by a photograph called Samoan Halfcaste (1886) taken in colonial New Zealand by Thomas Andrew. Indigeneity and gender, and their intersection, are ongoing themes in Kihara’s work. Photographs and video are frequently used to capture otherwise ephemeral performances, which often draw on Sāmoan dance traditions such as siva.
A huge emotional and tonal range is represented across Kihara’s work: the photographic series Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? is poignant, while Fa'afafine: In the Manner of a Woman sees a defiant Kihara holding the viewer’s gaze, and Kihara’s 2021 Venice Biennale exhibition Paradise Camp included videos such as the satirical First Impressions, a kind of talk show where members of the fa’afafine and fa’atama communities critique Paul Gauguin’s paintings of Pacific subjects.
Since 2019, Kihara has also drawn on her Japanese heritage and explored the history of relations between Japan and the Pacific, producing the series サ-モアのうた (Sāmoa no uta) A Song About Sāmoa, which features painted furisode kimono created from siapo (Sāmoan barkcloth).
Kihara has curated several international exhibitions; most recently, Project Banaba, a collaboration with Banaban scholar Katerina Teaiwa, which has toured Carriageworks (NSW, Australia, 2017) and MTG Hawke's Bay Tai Ahuriri (2019). Along with Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Kihara also co-edited the publication Samoan Queer Lives (2018), which features autobiographical chapters by fa’afafine and LGBTQIA+ Sāmoans living in Sāmoa and across the diaspora.
LINKS
Key works / presentations
2023 – soft and weak like water, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
2022 — Paradise Camp, Venice Biennale, Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion presentation, Venice, curated by Natalie King
2022 — Aichi Triennale, Nagoya
2019 — Project Banaba, with Katerina Teaiwa and Jess Mio, MTG Hawke's Bay Tai Ahuriri, Te Matau-a-Māui
2018 — Sāmoan Queer Lives, published by Little Island Press
2018 — Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok
2017 — Project Banaba, with Katerina Teaiwa, Carriageworks, Sydney
2017 — Honolulu Biennale, Honolulu
2015 — Them and Us, artistic co-director with Jochen Roller, Sophiensaele, Berlin
2015 — The Asia Pacific Triennial, QAGOMA, Brisbane
2014 — Daegu Photo Biennale, Daegu
2014 — Culture for Sale, City Gallery Wellington, Pōneke
2013 — Sakahàn Quinquennial, Ottawa
2009 — The Auckland Triennial, Tāmaki Makaurau
2008 — Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2002 — The Asia Pacific Triennial, QAGOMA, Brisbane
1999 — Hand in Hand, curated with Jenny Fraser, Boomalli Aboriginal Arts Collective and Performance Space, Sydney Mardi Gras, Sydney
Key awards
2017-2022 — Research Fellow, National Museum of World Cultures, Netherlands
2021 — Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi: Arts Laureate
2012 — Wallace Arts Trust: Paramount Award
2003 — Creative New Zealand: Emerging Pacific Artist Award