Renowned actor David Fane reads from Der Papālagi by Erich Scheurmann, the book that inspired Yuki Kihara's exhibition Der Papālagi (The White Man).

David Fane is an award-winning actor and writer on stage and screen. He played multiple characters in animated TV hit bro’Town, dispensed wise words as Falani on Outrageous Fortune, and was a founding member of comedy group The Naked Samoans. Fane juggles his acting commitments with his role as one of the breakfast hosts on hip hop and R&B station Flava FM. Fane is known on the airwaves as Dr Fane.

Der Papālagi (The White Man) responds to German national Erich Scheurmann’s book Der Papālagi. Published in 1920 the book contains revelations about European culture as ostensibly made by Tuiavii, a chief who had been taken to Europe as a part of a völkerschaugruppe (a native performance group). However, it was later discovered that these speeches were not actually Tuiavii’s social commentary translated by Scheurmann, but Scheurmann’s thoughts and world-views published under this pseudonym. [1]

Yuki Kihara’s solo exhibition Der Papālagi (The White Man), in ST PAUL St Gallery Three uses Scheurmann’s text as a spring board for a series of new work. In this work Kihara films and photographs Barbara and Christian Durst, a German couple who have lived in Samoa for 24 years, standing dressed in indigenous Samoan regalia reserved for those of the highest ranks in a series of locations across the country’s capital Apia. The series raises questions about Sāmoan nationalism and the politics of home and belonging, exploring ethical boundaries between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation.

<sub>[1]. Yuki Kihara, ‘Der Papālagi (The White Man) - artist statement’, Milford Galleries Dunedin (accessed 17 January 2017). https://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz/dunedin/submissions/10321-9b5290a9

Yuki Kihara received support from Creative New Zealand to make this work. Der Papālagi (The White Man) is courtesy of the artist and Milford Galleries Dunedin, New Zealand. This exhibition is presented in association with Auckland Arts Festival 2017.</sub>