Yuki Kihara is renowned for delving into the complexities of postcolonial histories in the Pacific and interrogating Western misinterpretations from the perspective of Fa'afafine (Samoan for 'in the manner of a woman' broadly understood as the LGBTIQ+ in the Western context) community which she belongs to in Samoa.
Read MoreBorn in Samoa of mixed Samoan and Japanese heritage, Shigeyuki Kihara migrated to New Zealand in 1989. Kihara's works and performances have been shown at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art; Hong Kong Arts Centre; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Warsaw; Centro Ricerca Arte Attuale, Italy; Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; de Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. Kihara's work has recently been acquired by the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Ohio and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In 2008 Kihara held a solo exhibition Living Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in 2012 Kihara received the Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award and the New Generation Award from The Arts Foundation.
Yuki Kihara represents the Pacific art community at the 59th Venice Biennale.
Kihara conceived the Firsts Solidarity Network after becoming the first Pasifika, Asian, and trans artist to represent New Zealand at the event.
The event will feature contributions from artists Ho Rui An, Saodat Ismailova, Yuki Kihara, and ruangrupa's Reza Afisina, among others.
Australia is the latest country to confirm the artist and curator who will present work at the world's most famous biennial.