Here are the nominees for Best Art Exhibition in Time Out Sydney's inaugural Arts & Culture Awards
An interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Sāmoan descent, Yuki Kihara made waves at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, where she was the first Fa’afafine (Sāmoa’s ‘third gender’) artist to represent Aotearoa New Zealand. Lucky for us, the Powerhouse (Ultimo) brought an expanded presentation of her body of work, Paradise Camp, to Sydney audiences to view for free. A meshing of visual art, research and historical documentation featuring 12 vividly colourful photographic tableaus – Kihara's work employs humour and queer sensibilities to skewer prevalent forms of ignorance, from colonial conceptions to climate change denial. Paradise Camp boldly deconstructs the work of famous French Post Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin (spoiler: he probably never even went to Tahiti) by recreating his paintings with her queer Pasifika community. She even donned prosthetics to film a drag king impression of the deceased European art hero. Fierce.
Source: Time Out
