Yuki Kihara on Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow (After Gauguin)
Photo of Yuki Kihara by Gui Taccetti © Gui Taccetti Photography
Free, booking essential
Duration: 45 minutes including Q&A
Join artist Yuki Kihara for a conversation about gender politics, climate change, decolonisation and her monumental photograph, Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow (2020).
Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow features members of the Aleipata Fa'afafine Association. The work repurposes and upcycles the composition of Gauguin’s painting, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897–98).
Fa'afafine and fa'afatama are fluid gender roles that move between male and female worlds. Faʻafafine are people assigned male at birth who ‘live in the manner of women’ and faʻatama are people assigned female at birth who ‘live in the manner’ of men. Fa'afafine and fa’afatama are the traditional Sāmoan third and fourth genders, which Kihara would like to see reinstated back into the cultural gender matrix in contemporary Sāmoa.
About the artist
Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Sāmoan descent. Through a research-based approach, her work seeks to challenge dominant and singular historical narratives through a wide range of mediums, including performance, sculpture, video, photography and curatorial practice. Kihara lives and works in Sāmoa, where she has been based over the past 11 years.
Kihara’s works have been presented at the Asia Pacific Triennial (2002 & 2015); Auckland Triennial (2009); Sakahàn Quinquennial (2013); Daegu Photo Biennale (2014); Honolulu Biennale (2017); Bangkok Art Biennale (2018); Aichi Triennale (2022) and the Gwangju Biennale (2023). Kihara’s critically acclaimed exhibition entitled Paradise Camp curated by Natalie King was presented in the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022. Paradise Camp subsequently toured to the Powerhouse Museum, Gadigal land/Sydney.
Yuki Kihara’s Fonofono o le nuanua: Patches of the rainbow (After Gauguin) (2020) is presented in Gallery 11 in dialogue with the SaVĀge K’lub Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled and Gauguin's World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao.
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