August 2, 2022
“I make sure that within my own practice that I know, does it touch the mind? And does it touch the heart? Because I want both things to connect. Because it’s really important for me as a Pacific Islander, particularly […]
August 2, 2022
In Sāmoa, it is often said that “the most beautiful women are men.” (Paul Miles, Transgender in the Pacific – Fa’afafine, fakaleiti and mahu.) As with all Polynesian countries, cross-dressing has been an important aspect of Sāmoan culture and is […]
July 20, 2022
The artist, who is of mixed Japanese and Samoan heritage, talks about showcasing queer rights and revealing the toxic influence of colonialism in her works. The artist Yuki Kihara (b1975), who is of Japanese and Samoan descent, brought some tropical […]
July 12, 2022
The Venice Biennale is irrevocably entangled with questions of representation. Every two years, some eighty nations select an artist or artists to represent them at the world’s largest international art event. For this year’s Biennale, Creative New Zealand sent Yuki […]
July 6, 2022
To ensure the survival of their species, the dominant male of a school of Tu’u’u-lumane, or the pink skunk clownfish, will change their sex to female. For Yuki Kihara, this phenomenon of the fish’s kinship system debunks the assumptions of […]
June 30, 2022
One of the first references to the presence of a third gender in French Polynesia in the Western archive can be found in the diary of a marine officer. In 1789, during a stay on the island of Tahiti, George […]