Satire & Stereotypes: South Sea Fantasies, Paul Gauguin, and Gender Norms

In the context of the exhibition "A Kind of Paradise – Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art"

In this artist talk, Yuki Kihara discusses her work First Impressions: Paul Gauguin – An equally amusing and clever deconstruction of Gauguin's South Sea fantasies, gender norms, and the art of decolonizing (art) history and telling its story in many voices.

Yuki Kihara (b. 1975, Samoa) 
is a Japanese Samoan conceptual artist working and living in the country of her birth. Her interdisciplinary practice challenges dominant historical narratives and their sociopolitical persistence in contemporary culture. Her solo exhibition Living Photographs (2008) was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Met then acquired the works. Recent solo exhibitions include the 59th Venice Biennale (Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion, 2022); the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (2024); and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (2025). Kihara’s works are in permanent collections, including those of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington; the British Museum, London, UK; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Modern Art and the Met in New York.

Photo: Yuki Kihara photographed by Ralph Brown © Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries, Aotearoa New Zealandosts