Alive in New York

Auckland multimedia and performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara will make her North American debut at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art with an exhibition called ‘Living Photographs’. During the exhibition, Kihara will also perform ‘Taualuga: The Last Dance’. The performance combines photography, traditional dance, audio, and historical costume to form a tribute to the many leaders and people of Samoa. “Shigeyuki Kihara was born to defy categorisation, her very existence blurs and challenges the organisation of mainstream thought and practice,” Hawkes Bay artist Jim Vivieaere has said. Earlier this year the Metropolitan Museum purchased two works by Kihara to add to their permanent collection. Kihara was born in Samoa and immigrated to New Zealand in 1989 at the age of sixteen. ‘Living Photographs’ runs October 7 through February 1, 2009.