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The New Zealand pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale,
running now through November at Arsenale, recreates a sun-drenched, lazy beach island setting to present Yuki Kihara’s Paradise Camp, introducing visitors to the Fa’afafine, Samoa’s “third gender” community. The Fa’afafine are people in Samoa who forages identify themselves as non-binary, a gender that is apparently recognized in traditional Samoan society as an integral part of local culture.
Fa’afafine are assigned male at birth and express both masculine and feminine gender traits. Paradis Camp presents interviews, videos, and local talk shows with members of the Fa’afafine community. But the highlight is Yuki Kihara’s photographs and videos re-staging Paul Gaugin’s uber-famous paintings done in Tahiti in the late 1800s which romanticized/eroticized the innocent Pacific islanders for a western world. At Paradise Camp, all models in the faux Gaugin are from the Fa’afafine community.
Thames and Hudson published a fantastic book on Paradis Camp. https://thamesandhudson.com/paradise-camp-by-yuki-kihara-9781760761424
After the Venice Biennele the exhibit will travel to Samoa, Austraia and New Zealand next year
Review by Glenn John
Once upon a loooong time ago, Glenn moved from NYC to Bangkok (pre-covid, the most visited city on Earth
Forbes mag.et al) and suddenly he wants to let everyone know a bit more about Thailand (per capita, the
queerest country on Earth - his stats) and maybe some of the LGBTQI+ happenings in the neighboring
countries also.
Labels: 2002, 3rd Gender, Fa’afafine, Glenn John, New Zealand, Venice Biennele, Yuki Kihara
