Yuki Kihara Paradise Camp 59th Venice Biennale

Yuki Kihara

Paradise Camp
59th Venice Biennale

23 Apr - 27 Nov 2022

Two Fa'afafine (after Gauguin) (2020)

Nafea e te Fa'aipoipo? When Will You Marry? (after Gauguin) (2020)

Fa'afafine with Children (after Gauguin) (2020)

The Wizard (after Gauguin) (2020)

Genesis 9:16 (after Gauguin) (2020)

Si' ou Alofa Maria: Hail Mary (after Gauguin) (2020)

Two Fa'afafine on the Beach (after Gauguin) (2020)

Two Fa'afafine Going to Church (after Gauguin) (2020)

Three Fa'afafine (after Gauguin) (2020)

Spirit of the Ancestors Watching (after Gauguin) (2020)

Fonofono o le Nuanua: Patches of the Rainbow (after Gauguin) (2020)

First Impressions: Paul Gauguin (2018)

Paul Gauguin with a Hat (after Gauguin) (2020)

Talanoa Between Yuki Kihara and Paul Gauguin (2022)

Vailulu'u Seamount (2020)

Paradise Camp

Paradise Camp (2022)

Paradise Camp comprises twelve tableau photographs featuring a cast of Sāmoan Fa'afafine (Sāmoa’s ʻthird gender’), repurposing and upcycling paintings by the late post-impressionist French artist Paul Gauguin believed to have been inspired by Sāmoa.

Kihara’s performative photography is presented against a vast wallpaper of a landscape decimated by the 2009 tsunami, and alongside First Impressions: Paul Gauguin - a five-part talk-show series written and directed by Yuki Kihara, commissioned by Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen in 2018, where a group of Fa'afafine comment wittily on select Gauguin paintings.

Inspired by the faleaitu (house of spirits) skits performed in Sāmoan, Kihara also casts herself as Gauguin in Paul Gauguin with a Hat (after Gauguin). In this ingenious role reversal, Kihara is transformed via silicone prosthetics, costume, moustache and wig into the 19^th century French painter who spent ten years in French Polynesia.

The exhibition also features a “Vārchive” – a term coined by Kihara that uses the Sāmoan concept of Vā to describe her relationship with her archive of research. The artist says, “My Vārchive includes personal research, rare books by 19th century explorers, colonial portraits, pamphlets, news items, a geological sculpture and activist material. It provides both a backstory of how Paradise Camp came into being, and as a living entity, it helps to provide new meaning in the present and future.”

TO ENQUIRE ABOUT ACQUIRING WORKS IN PARADISE CAMP PHONE +64 3 477 7727 OR

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Trailer for First Impressions: Paul Gauguin, 2018. Commissioned by Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Written and directed by Yuki Kihara.

Excerpt from Talanoa Between Yuki Kihara and Paul Gauguin, 2022. Courtesy of Yuki Kihara and New Zealand at Venice. Written and directed by Yuki Kihara. Edited by Kirsty MacDonald.

Making of Paradise Camp (2020). Courtesy of Yuki Kihara and New Zealand at Venice. Edited by Kirsty MacDonald.

Making of Paul Gauguin with a Hat (2020). Directed by Yuki Kihara. Edited by Kirsty MacDonald.

NEW ZEALAND AT VENICE WEBSITE

Visit the official NZATVENICE website to access a walkthrough of the exhibition, an interactive VIRTUAL EXPLORE section with comprehensive information about each artwork, videos with Yuki's commentary on numerous aspects of Paradise Camp, the complete Yuki Kihara Vārchive, and the full New Zealand at Venice story.

SELECTED PRESS AND MEDIA

25/05/23 - The Saturday Paper - Artist Yuki Kihara

18/11/22 - Artlink - Pimp my Gauguin: Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp (or Why Post Impressions Matter)

25/05/22 - Burlington Contemporary - Yuki Kihara: Paradise Camp

24/05/22 - Contemporary HUM - Interview with Yuki Kihara

24/05/22 - Contemporary HUM - Interview with curators Natalie King and Ioana Gordon-Smith

28/04/22 - The Guardian - Fa'afafine Yuki Kihara celebrates Samoa's third gender: 'Galleries think they can tick the box with me'

26/04/22 - Time Magazine - Female and Gender Nonconforming Artists Dominate the Venice Biennale for the First Time

26/04/22 - Something Curated - The Best From the 59th Venice Biennale

22/04/22 - Sleek Magazine - Paradise Camp at the Venice Biennale - An Interview with Yuki Kihara

22/04/22 - Art Agenda Review - 59th Venice Biennale, The National Pavilions

21/04/22 - CNN Style - Powerful photo by Pacific indigenous artist reveals truth about 1899 painting