NZ fafafine artist exhibits at NY's Met

Oct 18, 2008 6:42 PM

Shigeyuki Kihara is the first living New Zealand Samoan artist to have a solo exhibition at New York's prestigious Metropolitan Museum.

The artists who have exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum are very exclusive.

"Met is kinda of like, or institutions such as the Met, are renowned for exhibiting artists that are no longer in the living world," laughs Kihara.

But dead she is not, and gender bending pioneer Kihara has entered a cathedral of American and world high-culture.

Kihara, known as Yuki to her pals, is a fafafine, meaning people that are of non-heterosexual origin.

And it's also the first exhibition by a New Zealander since Te Maori 24 years ago with all the kudos, including being put up -for a while in a fancy hotel.

Kihara's work is on exhibit at the Rockerfeller wing corridor, an area that has thousands of visitors walking through it every day.

"This is a beautiful experience for me because we don't have beautiful museums, let alone wonderful artists like you that express yourself, and bring us to your world," says one visitor.

"My master plan is to be staying in New York as long as I can, meet and greet, and hopefully look for another place to exhibit my work - so watch this space."

Source: ONE News