Shigeyuki Kihara is a Samoan-born artist whose work explores themes of cultural representation,colonialism, identity and consumerism.

For City Gallery, Shigeyuki presents Culture for Sale, a live performance and interactive video installation informed by the groups of 19th century Samoan men, women and small children who toured Germany as part of a ‘human zoo’. Commonly known as ‘Völkerschau’, this practice was a popular form of entertainment and colonial theatre. The project is one outcome of Kihara’s travel to Germany, supported by the Goethe-Institut, to investigate museum archives related to the German administration of Samoa from 1900 until 1914.

*image (left)
Culture for Sale, 2012 
performance documentation
Courtesy of Shigeyuki Kihara Studio, 4A Center for Contemporary Asian Art
and Campbelltown Arts Center for Sydney Festival 2012.
Photo courtesy of Susannah Wimberley