Making it there

M E E T . . . WHO - Shigeyuki Kihara WHAT - Artist WHERE - Occam Cafe WHY - She's breaking boundaries
By Valerie Schuler
Shigeyuki Kihara is a hard lady to get hold of.
After countless phone calls and emails, I track her down in New York. She's happy to be interviewed, but I have to check with her public relations people first.
Can we get a photo? Sure, but The Aucklander can only use the one sup plied in the carefully manicured media kit.
Who is Shigeyuki Kihara? She's a New Zealand fa'afafine artist storming the international art scene.
Miss Kihara is the first Kiwi to hold a solo exhibition at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She is also the first indigenous Pacific artist to have made it there.
Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photo graphs opened in October. The exhi bition, which explores Pacific culture, colonialism, stereotypes and gender roles, continues until February.
The Met's programme describes the work as ``a powerful commentary directed at Western perceptions of Pacific Islanders and the sexual stereotypes that were generated by early images'.
It's an incredible achievement, according to Auckland Art Gallery curator Ron Brown. ``Her art is a unique exploration of gender and sexuality. It speaks all across the world,' he says.
A month or so after I first make contact, Miss Kihara and I finally meet. At her request, it's at Occam Cafe in Grey Lynn.
She walks in at 10am on the dot. Dressed casual-chic, sporting bright yellow Karen Walker sunnies and an impressive set of fake eyelashes, she orders a pot of English Breakfast tea.
We sit in a quiet corner, where she piles international art magazines and media clippings on the table.
She gives a well-rehearsed spiel about her work and upcoming exhibitions.
I let her talk, mainly because I can't get a word in. I sit and nod. I've prepared some questions. She cuts me off, dodging the personal ones.
My patience thoroughly tested, I eventually break the facade. But only just: Miss Kihara was born in Samoa to a Japanese father and Samoan mother. She was raised in Indonesia, Japan and Samoa. Her family moved to New Zealand in the late 1980s.
So what sets this lady apart from the crowds? Kristina Jeffery, of the Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust, who has worked closely with Miss Kihara over the years, says: ``Her work is generally political and questioning. She's fearless in the way she puts herself in her work, baring herself to public scrutiny.'
The tri-lingual artist, who is known among her pals as Yuki, spent two months in the Big Apple promoting her show. ``People in New York think Samoa is in the Caribbean,' she laughs. ``I enjoyed meeting them and engaging with the rest of the world.
``I met other indigenous artists, playwrights and actors, curators and collectors, some of whom want to buy my work.'
New York is known as the city that never sleeps and it was a hectic 60 days. Between gallery openings and swish dinner invitations, there was little time to relax. But it was worth the journey.
``If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,' she says. ``People go there from all over the world and want to be recognised. You have to be self-promoting and feel comfortable talking about what you do. Otherwise you might as well stay home.'
Between sips of tea, as if to prove the point, she informs me that one of her pieces, Fa'a Fafine Triptych 1, was bought as a gift for Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani.
What does it feel like to have hit the big time? She looks slightly taken back, as though her success is the most natural thing in the world. ``I'm comfortable in the limelight,' she says.
But life hasn't always been a bed of roses for the 33-year-old. As a fashion graduate in Wellington in the 1990s, she found it impossible to break into the industry.
``All the fashion boutiques turned me away,' she says. ``Galleries wouldn't exhibit my work because, apparently, it wasn't New Zealand art. I was devastated and even had to go on the dole for a bit. But in the end I'm thankful for all that negativity, because it gave me the drive to prove myself. It added oil to the fire.'
Earning a living as a hairdresser and making T-shirts on the side, Miss Kihara's break came in 2000.
Te Papa Tongarewa museum bought Teuanoa'i, Adorn to Excess, a controversial collection of T-shirts she refers to as ``a bastardised piss-take of all the corporate logos in Pacific Island households.'
Following legal advice, Te Papa removed three of the 28 T-shirts, which featured logos including ``The Whorehouse' and ``KKK.'
The rest is art history.
In 2003, Miss Kihara won Creative NZ's Emerging Pacific Artist award. Nowadays, her work can be found in museums and galleries around the globe.
So where to from here? 2009 is set to be another big year. Back in Auckland, where she enjoys ``blobbing out' in her Grey Lynn apartment, Miss Kihara is getting organised for the Auckland Arts Festival and exhibitions up and down the country. The Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts is also on her calendar.
The interview is over. She hugs me, turns on her high heels and flounces out the door.
Information: www.shigeyukikihara.com