'SHIPWRECK OF EMPIRE' (2026) BY YUKI KIHARA

ARTIST STATEMENT BY YUKI KIHARA

In my site-specific installation 'Shipwrecks of Empire' for the 2026 BredaPhoto Festival, I draw on the sinking of the MHNZS Manawanui—a Royal New Zealand Navy dive and hydrographic vessel that ran aground, caught fire, and sank off the southern coast of Upolu, Sāmoa, in October 2024. This event, framed as a gesture of 'goodwill' by the New Zealand government in preparation for the arrival of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), reveals itself as a display of military might and a continuation of colonial power dynamics among nations with a shared history of conflict during WW2. The environmental disaster caused by the shipwreck, particularly its impact on the village of Safata on the island of Upolu, whose livelihoods depend on the Moana, exposes the stark inequities in how such incidents are addressed—compensating residents with meager payments that fail to account for the long-term devastation.

The Manawanui’s sinking becomes a microcosm of the broader systemic vulnerabilities evident in the chokehold of the Strait of Hormuz, where localized events illuminate the interconnectedness of global power, resource control, and environmental stewardship. Through this work, I seek to interrogate how strategic locations are wielded as symbols of dominance while their consequences disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.

In 1768, French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville bestowed the name Navigator Islands (or Îles des Navigateurs) upon Sāmoa, inspired by his admiration for the Sāmoans' remarkable fleet of canoes and their exceptional mastery of navigation and seamanship on the water. Layered within this installation are photographs of Sāmoan fleet of canoes including double-hulled canoes, captured around the same time as these colonial shipwrecks. Positioned alongside the theatrical flats of the colonial shipwrecks, they evoke the indigenous practice of wayfinding—a sophisticated, instrument-free system of navigating the vast Moana that native master navigators have used for millennia to settle a third of the Earth’s surface. This juxtaposition underscores the resilience and ingenuity of indigenous knowledge systems against the ongoing legacies of imperial exploitation, inviting viewers to consider the enduring tension between colonial histories and the enduring wisdom of the Moana.

EXHIBITION DATES

‘BredaPhoto Festival’
The Netherlands
11 September – 25 October 2026
https://bredaphoto.nl

PRODUCTION STILLS