Victories
Yuki Kihara, Reality check for Paul Gauguin from ‘Victories’ series, 2026
Digital print on dupion silk with coconut-shell buttons; constructed shirt; custom CNC-cut acrylic hanger. Edition of 3 + 2AP
Victories, Yuki Kihara’s first Wellington solo exhibition of new work since representing Aotearoa New Zealand at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 with Paradise Camp, continues to be on view exclusively at Webb’s Wellington Gallery.
For collectors who have followed Kihara’s practice, this is a timely opportunity to acquire work from a major new body by one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most internationally recognised contemporary artists. Across fifteen works, Kihara transforms the Tiki shirt, long associated with commercialised Pacific fantasy, into a site for examining colonial history, representation and power.
Printed on Dupion silk, each shirt draws on historic images of colonial expeditions overturned, juxtaposed with more recent events and examples of militourism in the Pacific, alongside imagery of Kihara transformed into Paul Gauguin and Charles Darwin. Presented flat on custom-made hangers, the works invite viewers to reconsider the ways Pasifika cultures have been represented, consumed and reimagined.
The exhibition also includes a selection from Kihara’s Aotea‘ula series, courtesy of Milford Galleries, offering further depth for collectors familiar with the artist’s ongoing engagement with image, history and Pacific identity.
Victories is a selling exhibition, with works available for immediate purchase.