Pasifika Theirstories

Over the years, in museum archives and old artworks, Kihara discovered visual evidence of Fa’afafine and queer existence in the Moana.

This historical evidence of Indigenous queer lives comprises images from many cultures, including Sāmoa, Tahitian in French Polynesia, Palau, Yap, and the Saipan Islands in Micronesia in the North Pacific. Some of these relatively unknown artworks may not directly refer to Fa’afafine, but their distinctly queer expression counters the argument that Indigenous queer cultures in the Moana were non-existent before Western contact.

The Fa‘afafine and Fa‘atama community has always existed and has resisted heteronormative colonial domination for centuries. They continue to be resilient people guided by ancestral principles.