Going Native (2017/2022) by Yuki Kihara
Production still from ‘Going Native’ (2017/2022) by Yuki Kihara. Featuring ‘Te hono ki Aotearoa: The Link To New Zealand’ student rowing club members performing the haka (Māori ceremonial war dance) in Leiden, The Netherlands. Photo by Wonu Veys. Commissioned by the National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands. Courtesy of Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries Dunedin and Queenstown, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Press Release
‘Going Native’ (2017/2022) at the Museum Volkenkunde by Yuki Kihara
An engaging new work by Yuki Kihara is set to open in the Japangalerij of Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden on 1 November 2022, running until 8 January 2023.
‘Going Native’ (2017/2022) is a work commissioned by the National Museum of World Cultures in The Netherlands as a culmination of enquiry undertaken since 2017 by research fellow and artist-in-residence Yuki Kihara into their rich and varied ethnographic collections. The installation places the research into a contemporary setting, generating provocation around issues of cross-cultural exchange and representation. Several Dutch groups are focused on, who have been entrusted with and are committed to the care and perpetuation of certain Indigenous cultural practices from around the world.
Through the medium of film and curated artefacts a link is drawn between historical and contemporary Dutch representations and constructions of the Pacific. Each group is in a unique position to perform ceremonial songs, dances and customs as a way of enabling these cultures to have a voice in Europe. ‘Hālau hula ke ala o nā hōku’ from Amsterdam teaches and practices hula, a ceremonial dance from Hawaiʻi. Mt yiḏaki from Apeldoorn shares and plays the music of the didgeridoo, a traditional instrument from Australia. In Leiden, another group are the chosen guardians of Te Hono ki Aotearoa, a Māori waka (canoe), which also involves performing haka and songs as part of protocol. The critical point is that each group has been offered a blessing to enact and pass on specific knowledge of these practices based on their respective engagement and relationships with the traditional owners.
Based in Sāmoa, Yuki Kihara (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist of Sāmoan and Japanese heritage. She is currently representing New Zealand at the 59th Venice Biennale with her critically acclaimed exhibition Paradise Camp curated by Natalie King (now also published as a book), being the first Pasifika artist to be representing the country. Kihara’s work engages with various social, political, and cultural issues. Her interdisciplinary approach challenges dominant and singular historical narratives through visual arts, dance, and curatorial practice, engaging with Pacific colonial history and representation as they intersect with race, gender, spirituality, and sexual politics.
Kihara’s work can also be found in the collections of: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; British Museum; National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand to name a few. Her works have additionally been presented at the Asia Pacific Triennial (2002 & 2015), Auckland Triennial (2009), Sakahàn Quinquennial (2013), Daegu Photo Biennial (2014), Honolulu Biennial (2017), Bangkok Art Biennial (2018), Aichi Triennale (2022) and forthcoming Gwangju Biennale (2023).
The opening of the installation coincides with a panel discussion held at Museum Volkenkunde with the participants of the project featured in ‘Going Native’, as part of the conference Taking Care: Re/Creating Kinship in the Ethnographic Museum in Europe. The conference is part of the international collaborative research project Taking Care - Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care, which extends across the ethnographic museums throughout Europe and is co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. The presentation of ‘Going Native’ (2017/2022) at the Museum Volkenkunde marks both its inaugural showing as well as the first iteration of a series of continued work.
A chapter on ‘Going Native’ written by Wony Veys is published in the Paradise Camp exhibition catalogue, edited by Natalie King and published by Thames and Hudson.
Watch the 'Going Native' trailer here: https://vimeo.com/764233917
Links
https://thamesandhudson.com/paradise-camp-by-yuki-kihara-9781760761424
Exhibition information
Going Nativeʻ
1 November – 8 January 2022
Solo exhibition by Yuki Kihara
Commissioned by The National Museum of World Cultures
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden
The Netherlands
https://www.volkenkunde.nl
https://www.materialculture.nl/en
'Going Native' trailer
Contact
Media, loans, and sales inquiries: https://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz