About the Artist
Yuki Kihara
Discover the work and practice of Japanese-Sāmoan artist Yuki Kihara.
Yuki Kihara (b. 1975 Apia, Sāmoa) is a conceptual artist working and living in Sāmoa. She uses photography, performance, moving image, sculpture and archival research to confront the ways in which Western art history as a domineering force has presented the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific – particularly third gender communities in Sāmoa, which have historically been marginalized in the advent of colonialism.
Kihara gained recognition following a solo exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manahatta New York in 2008, and in 2022, she represented the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale to critical acclaim. Her works are held in over 30 permanent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in Manahatta New York, the British Museum in London, Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan and Te Papa Tongarewa, Aotearoa New Zealand’s national museum to name a few.
Kihara is fa’afafine, one of the four culturally recognised genders in Sāmoa. The term means ‘in the manner of a woman’; fa’afafine are assigned male at birth and express their gender with feminine traits. Currently, fa’afafine are culturally and socially recognised as a unique gender in Sāmoa but aren’t recognised by policy or legislation in the country.
Much of Kihara’s work confronts the representation of third gender people; Paradise Camp, her presentation at the 59th Venice Biennale, uses photographs, moving image, sculptures and archival material in order to explore the ways in which museums have historically undermined Indigenous gender identities.
Highlighting the ways in which museums shape people’s collective knowledge and perceptions, Kihara ‘upcycles’ historic artworks and images, centering fa’afafine narratives for the first time. Eight years in the making, Paradise camp is conceived of as a fa’afafine utopia and was created using a cast and crew of close to 100 people on Upolu Island, Sāmoa.
Find out more about Yuki Kihara’s work – visit Yuki Kihara: Darwin in Paradise Camp at the Whitworth from Friday 3 October.
Yuki Kihara: Darwin in Paradise Camp
3 October 2025 – 1 March 2026
the Whitworth
Free entry
