New Zealand, Paradise Camp
Yuki Kihara’s ensemble exhibition Paradise Camp reflects on pertinent local and global issues from the unique perspective of Fa‘afafine –
“in the manner of a woman” or third gender in Sāmoa. She creates an alternate, queer world that is both confronting and hypnotic in its humanity, while redrawing the afflictions of colonisation. In so doing, Kihara amplifies voices within her own community in Sāmoa thereby “returning the gaze” in a profound gesture of empowerment while camping the notion of paradise.