Image courtesy of Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Paul Gauguin with a hat (After Gauguin), 2020
Hahnemühle fine art paper mounted on aluminium
45 × 38 cm
Inspired by the faleaitu (house of spirits) skits performed in Sāmoan culture, Kihara returned indoors to a studio casting herself as Gauguin in Paul Gauguin with a hat (After Gauguin).
In this ingenious role reversal, Kihara is transformed via prosthetics, costume, moustache and wig, commanding her own space within the traditions of art history while upending the conventions of portraiture itself.
Yuki explains her Gauguin transformation
Paul Gauguin
In Gauguin’s paintings, Kihara noticed uncanny similarities to Fa’afafine. In Paradise Camp, Kihara upcycles Gauguin’s works using Fa‘afafine models to represent her own vision of Paradise.
