Ulugali’i Samoa: Samoan Couple
Title
Ulugali’i Samoa: Samoan Couple
Description
In Shigeyuki Kihara’s “Ulugali’i Samoa: Samoan Couple” photograph, Kihara masterfully interrogates Western conceptions of gender, Polynesia, race, and colonialism in one fell swoop. Much of the work the photograph relies on juxtaposition and irony, mobilizing Western tropes and turning them on their heads to reveal its inherent flaws and subliminal agendas to oppress and erase.
Kihara, who is of Soaoan and Japanese descent, was born and raised into Samoan culture. She is fa’afafine, a third “gender” or non-binary role in the Samoa– those who are assigned male at birth, and explicitly take on roles and traits typically ascribed to masculinity and femininity. In the photograph, Kihara portrays both the “man” and “woman” of Western expectations. The photo is stylized in imitation of 19th-century postcards of Samoan people that were photographed and portrayed through the Western photographers gaze, attempting to impose Western ideals of man and wife onto a culture where it simply is not applicable. Kihara pays careful attention to key physical denotators of the gender binary– facial hair, length of hair, differing jewelry. But most specifically, Kihara keeps the garments on both her figures low, drawing the viewer to arguably the most classically paid attention sex AND gender detonator– breasts. These marked differences are certainly up to the viewers’ interpretation, yet one can inquire that this picture aims to trick or fool the Western eye, and completely deconstructs the Western contraction of gender– how easily these gender binaries are recreated and therefore ultimately torn apart.
Kihara’s photo then works to undo and interrogate Western conceptions of the Samoa as well. At first glance, it appears that this picture is taken in what could be assumed to be the “wild Samoan jungle,” or how the naive from the West would assume the islands exists as. But, upon a closer look, it is clear that this photo must have been taken inside a building, as indicated by the banister in the background. The foliage is fake, or deliberately staged, to make it appear this way. Perhaps Kihara is speaking to the unassuming ways the Samoan people can turn stereotypes against their oppressors, appearing to be unassuming, primitive, and exotic yet, beyond the oppressors ability to recognize, are much smarter than they are assumed to be. Perhaps Kihara uses this banister to display the devastating effects of colonialism against the natural environment of the colonized, infiltrating and destroying, sucking up natural resource around them. The power of the photograph lies in the fact that its many layers can be analyzed again and again, and come up with many different productive conclusions about the evils and ultimate stupidity of Western views.
Kihara, who is of Soaoan and Japanese descent, was born and raised into Samoan culture. She is fa’afafine, a third “gender” or non-binary role in the Samoa– those who are assigned male at birth, and explicitly take on roles and traits typically ascribed to masculinity and femininity. In the photograph, Kihara portrays both the “man” and “woman” of Western expectations. The photo is stylized in imitation of 19th-century postcards of Samoan people that were photographed and portrayed through the Western photographers gaze, attempting to impose Western ideals of man and wife onto a culture where it simply is not applicable. Kihara pays careful attention to key physical denotators of the gender binary– facial hair, length of hair, differing jewelry. But most specifically, Kihara keeps the garments on both her figures low, drawing the viewer to arguably the most classically paid attention sex AND gender detonator– breasts. These marked differences are certainly up to the viewers’ interpretation, yet one can inquire that this picture aims to trick or fool the Western eye, and completely deconstructs the Western contraction of gender– how easily these gender binaries are recreated and therefore ultimately torn apart.
Kihara’s photo then works to undo and interrogate Western conceptions of the Samoa as well. At first glance, it appears that this picture is taken in what could be assumed to be the “wild Samoan jungle,” or how the naive from the West would assume the islands exists as. But, upon a closer look, it is clear that this photo must have been taken inside a building, as indicated by the banister in the background. The foliage is fake, or deliberately staged, to make it appear this way. Perhaps Kihara is speaking to the unassuming ways the Samoan people can turn stereotypes against their oppressors, appearing to be unassuming, primitive, and exotic yet, beyond the oppressors ability to recognize, are much smarter than they are assumed to be. Perhaps Kihara uses this banister to display the devastating effects of colonialism against the natural environment of the colonized, infiltrating and destroying, sucking up natural resource around them. The power of the photograph lies in the fact that its many layers can be analyzed again and again, and come up with many different productive conclusions about the evils and ultimate stupidity of Western views.
Kihara, who is of Soaoan and Japanese descent, was born and raised into Samoan culture. She is fa’afafine, a third “gender” or non-binary role in the Samoa– those who are assigned male at birth, and explicitly take on roles and traits typically ascribed to masculinity and femininity. In the photograph, Kihara portrays both the “man” and “woman” of Western expectations. The photo is stylized in imitation of 19th-century postcards of Samoan people that were photographed and portrayed through the Western photographers gaze, attempting to impose Western ideals of man and wife onto a culture where it simply is not applicable. Kihara pays careful attention to key physical denotators of the gender binary– facial hair, length of hair, differing jewelry. But most specifically, Kihara keeps the garments on both her figures low, drawing the viewer to arguably the most classically paid attention sex AND gender detonator– breasts. These marked differences are certainly up to the viewers’ interpretation, yet one can inquire that this picture aims to trick or fool the Western eye, and completely deconstructs the Western contraction of gender– how easily these gender binaries are recreated and therefore ultimately torn apart.
Kihara’s photo then works to undo and interrogate Western conceptions of the Samoa as well. At first glance, it appears that this picture is taken in what could be assumed to be the “wild Samoan jungle,” or how the naive from the West would assume the islands exists as. But, upon a closer look, it is clear that this photo must have been taken inside a building, as indicated by the banister in the background. The foliage is fake, or deliberately staged, to make it appear this way. Perhaps Kihara is speaking to the unassuming ways the Samoan people can turn stereotypes against their oppressors, appearing to be unassuming, primitive, and exotic yet, beyond the oppressors ability to recognize, are much smarter than they are assumed to be. Perhaps Kihara uses this banister to display the devastating effects of colonialism against the natural environment of the colonized, infiltrating and destroying, sucking up natural resource around them. The power of the photograph lies in the fact that its many layers can be analyzed again and again, and come up with many different productive conclusions about the evils and ultimate stupidity of Western views.
Kihara, who is of Soaoan and Japanese descent, was born and raised into Samoan culture. She is fa’afafine, a third “gender” or non-binary role in the Samoa– those who are assigned male at birth, and explicitly take on roles and traits typically ascribed to masculinity and femininity. In the photograph, Kihara portrays both the “man” and “woman” of Western expectations. The photo is stylized in imitation of 19th-century postcards of Samoan people that were photographed and portrayed through the Western photographers gaze, attempting to impose Western ideals of man and wife onto a culture where it simply is not applicable. Kihara pays careful attention to key physical denotators of the gender binary– facial hair, length of hair, differing jewelry. But most specifically, Kihara keeps the garments on both her figures low, drawing the viewer to arguably the most classically paid attention sex AND gender detonator– breasts. These marked differences are certainly up to the viewers’ interpretation, yet one can inquire that this picture aims to trick or fool the Western eye, and completely deconstructs the Western contraction of gender– how easily these gender binaries are recreated and therefore ultimately torn apart.
Kihara’s photo then works to undo and interrogate Western conceptions of the Samoa as well. At first glance, it appears that this picture is taken in what could be assumed to be the “wild Samoan jungle,” or how the naive from the West would assume the islands exists as. But, upon a closer look, it is clear that this photo must have been taken inside a building, as indicated by the banister in the background. The foliage is fake, or deliberately staged, to make it appear this way. Perhaps Kihara is speaking to the unassuming ways the Samoan people can turn stereotypes against their oppressors, appearing to be unassuming, primitive, and exotic yet, beyond the oppressors ability to recognize, are much smarter than they are assumed to be. Perhaps Kihara uses this banister to display the devastating effects of colonialism against the natural environment of the colonized, infiltrating and destroying, sucking up natural resource around them. The power of the photograph lies in the fact that its many layers can be analyzed again and again, and come up with many different productive conclusions about the evils and ultimate stupidity of Western views.
Creator
Shigeyuki Kihara
Source
Allen Memorial Art Museum
Date
2005
Format
Image, C-type print mounted on aluminum,
800 x 600 mm
800 x 600 mm
Type
Photo
Citation
Shigeyuki Kihara, “Ulugali’i Samoa: Samoan Couple,” An Archive of Trans Culture, accessed October 13, 2024, https://transcultural.oberlincollegelibrary.org/items/show/59.