Shigeyuki Kihara at the Met

(Shigeyuki Kihara, Ulugali'i Samoa: Samoan Couple, 2005. Courtesy of The Physics Room.)

Contrary to the beliefs of some, trangenderism is not specific to those who "just need to pray more" along with all those hedonist homosexuals and perverts. Transgenderism, along with homosexuality, is in fact a global phenomena found in all cultures and in nature as well.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is opening a new photography exhibition this October 7th featuring artist Shigeyuki Kihara. Similarly to artists Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura, Kihara puts herself into various roles in her photographs, but it is in the consideration Kihara's background that makes her photography that much more meaningful. Kihara was born in Samoa, where it she is considered Fa'afafine, the official third gender. Fa'fafine means "in the manner of a woman" in Samoan and is specific to children born male who later take up the gender roles of women. The exhibition, titled Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, will be on view at the Met until February 1st.

Chitra Ganesh vs. Godzilla

(Chitra Ganesh, Tales of Amnesia (detail), Godzilla, 2002-2007. Courtesy Saatchi Gallery.)

Tomorrow I am giving a short presentation on this piece for a class, so I thought I'd post the short analysis I did for it here.

So, we have a heroine here who is very non-traditional. I haven’t seen Godzilla since I was probably a small child, but I know that in those kind of monster movies, there is always some beautiful, helpless woman who needs saving. The juxtaposition is pretty obvious in this piece-instead of needing to be saved, this woman, and her girlfriends throwing around the bloody arm in the background here, holds the power. So, this is an empowering message, albeit rather gruesome!

One could also compare this in a feminist way to Lichtenstein’s work. In his pieces, the women is usually crying and calling out for “Brad” for help, lost in a swirl of water or lounging on a bed somewhere, which could be construed as feminist in its way, but personally, I prefer this type of message, even if it’s a little blatant.

Another way to look at this piece is via its post-colonial implications. Godzilla, though a Japanese creation, has become a part of Western culture, so for Ganesh to have this women in Indian attire reference Godzilla in this way may imply some anti-imperialist undertones in this work. Or maybe not, because there is another point of interest in this piece. The severed arm being tossed around in the left panel here is covered in bangle bracelets, which are used to announce a woman’s marital status in traditional Indian culture. This definitely seems to imply a sort of rebellion against some of the aspects of Indian culture which are more repressive towards women.

If anyone has any other insights into this piece, please let me know!