Research Centre for Material Culture (RCMC) | Yuki Kihara

The National Museum of World Cultures is honoured to welcome Yuki Kihara – one of New Zealand’s leading interdisciplinary artists – as a photograph fellow at the Research Centre for Material Culture (RCMC). Often referencing Pacific history, Kihara’s work explores the varying relationships and intersections between gender, race, sexuality, culture and politics. She works across performance, photography and video.

In the Netherlands, she will research our rich photographic archive to explore issues of colonialism, specifically looking at representations including cultural identities in the contemporary and Dutch constructions of the Pacific. Her unique insights aim to result in a project offering a new perspective on our museum practice thereby connecting different art worlds.

As a concrete outcome, the museum hopes to acquire some of Yuki Kihara’s work. During her fellowship, Kihara will also present a series of artist talks to a select audience. An interview with her, addressing issues of cultural identities in the contemporary, gender, climate change and the photographic archive, will be made available through the webpage of the Research Centre for Material Culture (RCMC).

A native of Samoa, Yuki Kihara is of Samoan and Japanese heritage based between Samoa and New Zealand. Kihara’s works and performances have been presented at the Asia Pacific Triennial (2002 & 2015); Metropolitan Museum of Art (Solo exhibition, 2008); Auckland Triennial (2009); Sakahàn Quinquennial (2013); Daegu Photo Biennial (2014) and Honolulu Biennial (2017). Her works can be found in international collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Australia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Allan Memorial Art Museum, Ohio and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Her recent dance production entitled ‘Them and Us’ (2015) co-directed with Jochen Roller premiered at Sophiensaele in Berlin and toured several venues across Europe.

http://materialculture.nl/en/yuki-kihara