Enterprise Professor Natalie King on curating ‘Paradise Camp’ for the Venice Biennale

The New Zealand pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia recently opened with artist Yuki Kihara’s ensemble exhibition, Paradise Camp, curated by Natalie King, Enterprise Professor at the University of Melbourne.

Yuki Kihara is the first Asian, Pasifika and fa’afafine (Sāmoa’s ʻthird gender’) artist to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the Venice Biennale.

Located in the Artiglierie, a central location in the Arsenale, Paradise Camp comprises twelve tableau photographs featuring a cast of Sāmoan Fa’afafine, repurposing and upcycling paintings by the late post-impressionist French artist Paul Gauguin that are believed to have been inspired by Sāmoa.