Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Sāmoan descent whose work seeks to challenge dominant and singular historical narratives by exploring the intersectionality between identity politics, decolonization and ecology through visual arts, dance, and curatorial practice.

In 2022, Kihara represented the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition entitled Paradise Camp curated by Natalie King and presented in the Arsenale to critical acclaim. The Paradise Camp exhibition toured the Powerhouse Museum, Gadigal land Sydney in 2023, the Saletoga Sands Resort, Upolu Island, Sāmoa in 2024 and is currently exhibiting at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK. Paradise Camp will also tour to The Whitworth, Manchester, UK later in 2025 until early 2026. The Paradise Camp exhibition is accompanied by a major catalogue edited by Natalie King and published by Thames and Hudson.

Kihara’s video performance artworks, photographic series Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? and lenticular bodies of work Te Taenga Mai o Salome, Quarantine Islands and most recently Presence in Absence (2025), feature Kihara in the guise of a fictitious persona named 'Salome' – “a Sāmoan woman resurrected from the 19th century - inspired by a photograph entitled Samoan Halfcaste (1886) taken by New Zealand colonial photographer Thomas Andrew. Kihara uses photography to capture heightened moments in ephemeral performances, which re-frame dominant histories and bring into the present (often) untold narratives.” ¹

In 2019 Kihara presented the first iteration of her multi-year project サ-モアのうた (Sāmoa no uta) A Song About Sāmoa comprising traditional furisode kimono, fashioned from siapo and exploring cultural myths, trans-Pacific connections and cultural translations. The first three phases have each been exhibited internationally at the Aichi Triennale in Japan; Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan; 14th Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania, National Museums Scotland and CHAT Hong Kong. Phase 1, Vasa (Ocean) was acquired by National Museums Scotland (2022) and is now in their permanent collection. Phase three, Moana (Pacific Ocean) was purchased by an Australian private collection while on exhibition at the Gwangju Biennale and Phase Four Taiheiyō (Pacific) was acquired (2024) by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand.

In 2021, Kihara became a recipient of the Art Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi. In addition, Kihara has been a recipient of grants, among others, including the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa; Asia New Zealand Foundation; Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania; Goethe Institute; British Council; DFAT Australia; MFAT New Zealand and the United Nations Women to name a few. 

Kihara’s works, performances and projects has been presented, among others, at Royal Academy of Arts, London; Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka, National Gallery of Canada; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels; Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.

Among the many exhibitions Kihara has presented over the last two decades was a solo exhibition entitled ‘Living Photographs’ (2008) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA), followed by the acquisition of the works by the museum for their permanent collection and in 2025 additional works from Kihara’s Paradise Camp were acquired by MOMA.