Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Sāmoan descent whose work seeks to challenge dominant and singular historical narratives by exploring the intersectionality between identity politics, decolonization and ecology through visual arts, dance, and curatorial practice.

2026 marks the fifth consecutive year on tour for Yuki Kihara’s Paradise Camp. In 2022, Kihara represented the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with a solo exhibition entitled Paradise Camp curated by Natalie King and presented in the Arsenale to critical acclaim. The Paradise Camp exhibition toured the Powerhouse Museum, Gadigal land Sydney in 2023, the Saletoga Sands Resort, Upolu Island, Sāmoa in 2024, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK, 2025, the Whitworth, Manchester, UK in 2025 until early 2026 and Darwin in Paradise Camp is currently exhibiting at Wereldmuseum Leiden, The Netherlands until 2027. Paradise Camp is accompanied by a major catalogue edited by Natalie King and published by Thames and Hudson. In 2025, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, acquired works from Paradise Camp, that will feature in Taking Back Our Space – Photographic Perspectives (September 2026–Spring 2027).

Salome: An Angel of History, presented at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Wellington, in 2026, brought together works from Kihara's sustained exploration of the fictional persona Salome across multiple bodies of work produced over several years. These include the video performance works, the photographic series Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, the lenticular works Te Taenga Mai o Salome, Quarantine Islands, and Presence in Absence, as well as her most recent sculptural and photographic series Dresstories (2026). Across these works, Kihara appears in the guise of the fictional persona 'Salome'—"a Sāmoan woman resurrected from the nineteenth century," inspired by Samoan Halfcaste (1886), a photograph by New Zealand colonial photographer Thomas Andrew. Kihara uses photography to capture heightened moments from ephemeral performances that reframe dominant histories and bring often untold narratives into the present.¹

In 2019 Kihara presented the first iteration of her multi-year project サ-モアのうた (Sāmoa no uta) A Song About Sāmoa comprising traditional furisode kimono, fashioned from siapo and exploring cultural myths, trans-Pacific connections and cultural translations. The first three phases have each been exhibited internationally at the Aichi Triennale in Japan; Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan; 14th Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Rising Tide: Art and Environment in Oceania, National Museums Scotland and CHAT Hong Kong. Phase 1, Vasa (Ocean) was acquired by National Museums Scotland (2022) and is now in their permanent collection. Phase three, Moana (Pacific Ocean) was purchased by an Australian private collection while on exhibition at the Gwangju Biennale and Phase Four Taiheiyō (Pacific) was acquired (2024) by Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand.

Among the many exhibitions Kihara has presented over the last two decades in 2008, Kihara became the first New Zealand artist, and the first Pacific Islander, to present a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with Living Photographs. The exhibition was followed by the acquisition of works for the museum's permanent collection. 

In 2021, Kihara became a recipient of the Art Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi. In addition, Kihara has been a recipient of grants, among others, including the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa; Asia New Zealand Foundation; Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania; Goethe Institute; British Council; DFAT Australia; MFAT New Zealand and the United Nations Women to name a few. 

Kihara’s works, performances and projects has been presented, among others, at Royal Academy of Arts, London; Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka, National Gallery of Canada; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels; Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.

Kihara's work can be found in over 30 permanent collections worldwide, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; British Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; National Museum of World Cultures; Sunpride Foundation (Hong Kong); Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; Ryerson Image Centre, Canada; and Giorgio Armani.