SHIGEYUKI KIHARA

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA Where do we come from?

What are we? Where are we going?

16 March - 10 April 2013

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 info@milfordhouse.co.nz

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

series of 20 c-pri

ints, sheets: 795 x 1040 mm each, printed images: 595 x 840 mm each, edition of 5

1

German Monu c-print, sheet: 7

ument, Mulinu’u (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

2

Roman Catholi c-print, sheet: 7

ic Church, Apia (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

3

Agelu i Tausi C c-print, sheet: 7

Catholic Church After Cyclone Evan, Mulivai Safata (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

4

After Cyclone c-print, sheet: 7

Evan, Lelata (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

5

St Mary’s Scho c-print, sheet: 7

ool, Savalalo (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

6

Aggie Grey’s Re c-print, sheet: 7

esort Casino, Mulifanua (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

7

Aquatic Centre c-print, sheet: 7

e, Tuanaimato (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

8

Piula Theological College, Lufilufi (2013) triptych, c-print, sheets: 795 x 1040 mm ea, images: 595 x 840 mm ea, edition of 5

8

Piula Theologic PART 1 OF 3

cal College, Lufilufi (2013)

8

Piula Theologic PART 2 OF 3

cal College, Lufilufi (2013)

8

Piula Theologic PART 3 OF 3

cal College, Lufilufi (2013)

9

Fale Samoa, Sa c-print, sheet: 7

atitoa (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

10

Marist Brothers c-print, sheet: 7

s Old Pupil’s Association House After Cyclone Evan, Mulivai (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

11

Mau Headqua c-print, sheet: 7

arters, Vaimoso (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

12

Saleapaga Prim c-print, sheet: 7

mary School After Tsunami Galu Afi, Saleapaga (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

13

Old Courthouse c-print, sheet: 7

e, Apia (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

14

Plantation, Lalo c-print, sheet: 7

omanu (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

15

Fale Fono at M c-print, sheet: 7

Malae o Tiafau, Mulinu’u (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

16

Departure, Fale c-print, sheet: 7

eolo International Airport (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

17

SNPF Plaza, Sav c-print, sheet: 7

valalo (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

18

After Tsunami G c-print, sheet: 7

Galu Afi, Lalomanu (2013) 795 x 1040 mm, printed image: 595 x 840 mm, edition of 5

The title of Shigeyuki Kihara’s upcoming exhibition is lifted from a large-scale painting by Paul Gauguin completed in 1897 shortly before he died in Tahiti.

Kihara uses these questions to frame her examination of Samoan culture and society following the tsunami of 2009, last year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Samoa’s independence and, most recently, the destruction caused by Cyclone Evan.

Taking inspiration from a late 19th-century photograph, “Samoan Half Caste”,

by New Zealand photographer Thomas Andrew, Kihara dons a Victorian mourning dress and re-visits a character first seen in her performance works Taualuga: The Last Dance (2006); Siva in Motion (2012) and Galu Afi: Waves of Fire (2012).

The settings chosen by Kihara for her photographs are pointed allusions to the social, religious, economic and political issues the artist wishes to highlight.

Using extant architectural trappings of previous colonising powers as backdrops, images such as the Old Apia Courthouse, Apia are loaded with multiple histories. In addition to this, Kihara asks the viewer to consider the role of neo-colonialism in present-day Samoa, using population drift (Departures, Faleolo Airport) and economic influence (the Chinese-funded development in Aquatic Centre, Tuanaimato) as pertinent examples.

Kihara turns her gaze onto the environmental destruction wrought in her country over the past four years, revisiting the subject of her Wallace Awardwinning work Galu Afi. The artist’s images of a roofless schoolroom, a tattered plantation and a picture-postcard beachfront are poignant reminders that

a tsunami’s personal and physical damage remains long after the media coverage of such disasters has finished.

Throughout this suite of photographs, Kihara uses the stark outlines of her 19th century taffeta gown as a vivid contrast to her choice of backdrops, be it the rounded lines of the Fale Fono (Samoan Parliament buildings) or the manicured gardens that were the site of the Mau headquarters. Her use of strong shadows requires close, concentrated examination by the viewer and the choice of black and white enhances the dense textures and geometries of the subjects.

Referencing the staged photographic postcards of the ‘South Seas’, Kihara’s lone figure stands as silent witness to scenes of political, historical and cultural importance in present-day Samoa. She turns the camera on her country’s colonial past, the impact of burgeoning globalisation, ideas of indigeneity and the role of government in an independent Samoa. Kihara “unpacks the myth” (1) of her country as an untouched Pacific paradise as seen through the eyes of colonial powers and tourist photographs.

1. Artist statement, January 2013.

EXHIBITION PRICES All works from the edition are available individually single works $4,000 each, triptych $12,000 framing quotes are available on request

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA b. 1975, lives Auckland

Le Loimata o Apaula - Tears of Apaula (2004)

Working across a range of media, including photography, performance and video, Shigeyuki Kihara has built a comprehensive art and curatorial practice that examines gender roles, the (mis)representation of Pacific peoples and cultural practices within a colonial European framework, and the past, present and future societal issues seen in a colonial and postcolonial Pacific world.

In 2012, Kihara’s practice has taken centre stage in New Zealand. Her video work Galu Afi: Wave of Fire was the first multimedia artwork to ever receive the Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award. Reinterpreting once more aspects of the Samoan taualaga dance form, Galu Afi is a lamentation for those lost in the 2009 tsunami in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Art writer and judge, Warwick Brown spoke for the judges, saying “the moment we saw [Galu Afi] we were mesmerised. It's such a beautifully classic piece of work” (1) With the October 2nd announcement that she has been awarded one of three New Generation Awards from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, Kihara is firmly positioned as one of New Zealand’s and the Pacific’s most interesting and innovative artists.

“In the last ten years, Shigeyuki Kihara has built an impressive career as a contemporary artist and curator, built around performance, film and photography. Her work sits beyond traditional Western forms of classification and is informed at a deep level by the emotional scars left on her cultures.”

Mark Amery, Arts Foundation Award judge (2) Within New Zealand, Kihara's work can be found in the public collections of Te Papa Tongarewa, the Auckland Art Gallery, the University of Auckland, Massey University, and the Waikato Museum of Art and History. International collections include the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Australia; Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia; University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, U.K, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

1. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10831516 (Accessed 28/09/12) 2. Shigeyuki Kihara, Media Release. 27/09/12

Shigeyuki Kihara 2013 CV P a g e |1

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA b. 1975, lives Auckland EDUCATION 1995

Bachelor of Fashion Design, Wellington Polytechnic

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013

2008/9 2006 2005 2004

Undressing the Pacific, A mid-career survey exhibition, The Hocken, University of Otago, Dunedin Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Milford Galleries Dunedin Shigeyuki Kihara; Living Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Vavau: Tales of Ancient Samoa, Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland Fa‛a fafine: In a Manner of a Woman, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia Vavau – Tales from Ancient Samoa, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 2011 2009 2008 2007 2006-08 2004

New and Recent Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin HOME AKL, Auckland Art Gallery Presence: New Acquisitions and Works from the Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth ethKnowcentrix – Museums Inside the Artist, October Gallery, London, UK Hand in Hand, Plimsoll Gallery, Tasmania, Australia Le Folauga, Auckland Museum Pasifika Styles, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific, The Asia Society, New York

SELECTED CURATORIAL PROJECTS 2012 2010-12

2010 2009 2007

Culture for Sale, live performance and exhibition, commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, for Sydney Festival 2012 Edge of Elsewhere, 3 year project commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia. Includes Bring Your Game: Hip Hop Summit, Talanoa: Walk the Talk IV , Talanoa: Walk the Talk V Talanoa: Walk the Talk VI; commissioned by the 4th Auckland Triennial Living Room, commissioned by Auckland City Council, Auckland. Includes Talanoa: Walk the Talk I & Talanoa: Walk the Talk II Measina Fa'afafine: Treasures from a Liminal Space, Artstation, Auckland

AWARDS 2013 2012 2009 2003

Massey University Pasifika Arts Research Fellow awarded by the College of Creative Arts in Wellington Aotearoa Niu Sila New Generation Award, Arts Foundation of New Zealand Paramount Award Winner, 21st Annual Wallace Art Awards Creative New Zealand Pacific Innovation and Excellence Award Creative New Zealand Emerging Pacific Artist Award

COLLECTIONS Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland, Auckland Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth Massey University, Palmerston North Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Shigeyuki Kihara 2013 CV P a g e |2

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Nouméa, New Caledonia Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2012

2010

2009 2006 2005

Were, Virginia, Dance of History and Loss, Art News, Summer 2012, pp 76-79 Gifford, Adam, Shigeyuki Kihara: A lament for the lost, The New Zealand Herald, 8 September 2012 Wolf, Erica, Shigeyuki Kihara’s Fa’a fafine; In a Manner of a Woman: The Photographic Theater of Cross-Cultural Encounter, The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association, Vol 10, No 2, pp 23-33 Federico, Celeste, Gender & Identity: Samoa’s Narratives, Aesthetica, Dec/Jan 2009, Issue 26, pp 32-35 Rosi, Pamela, Shigeyuki Kihara: Subverting dusky maidens and exotic tropes of Pacific paradise, Art Asia Pacific, No. 51, pp 72–73 Vivieaere, Jim, The self-effacement of Shigeyuki Kihara, Fa’a Fafine: In a Manner of a Woman, catalogue essay, March–April 2005

My Samoan Girl (2005)

Shigeyuki Kihara 2013 CV P a g e |3

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz