Kihara: Paradise Camp
Image: Three Fa‘afafine (After Gauguin), 2020 by Yuki Kihara from Paradise Camp series. Courtesy of Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries, Aotearoa New Zealand.
By LAUREN FROST
The internationally acclaimed exhibition, Yuki Kihara: Paradise Camp is premiering in Australia. The exhibition, which has been co-comissioned by Powerhouse Museum and Creative New Zealand, and curated by Natalie King OAM, will feature new works from Yuki Kihara.
Kihara, who is of Japanese and Sāmoan descent, uses her work to generate interdisciplinary perspectives that interrogate and dismantle gender roles, (mis)representation, and colonial legacies in the Pacific.
Inspired by the representation of Sāmoa and aspects of the Fa’afafine community (Sāmoa’s ‘third gender’) in Paul Gauguin’s post-impressionist paintings, Paradise Camp represents a new worldview that is open, inclusive and humorous. Each work reflects the injuries of colonialism and patriarchal structures, particularly in relation to the Fa’afafine community and Western misconceptions about the Pacific.
Kihara’s photography was shot and filmed in Upolu Island, Sāmoa, which was decimated by tsunami in 2009. Among the first responders to the disaster were a group of Fa’afafine models from the Aleipata Fa’afafine Association. Kihara’s work honours them and you can expect to see these models in the work, Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow (After Gauguin), posing riverside.
Among Kihara’s powerful works, the exhibition will also feature a five-part talk-show series called First Impressions: Paul Gauguin, where you can expect witty commentary on Gauguin paintings from a group of Fa’afafine.
