Vuvale

Mitchell is an artist of multicultural heritage, comprising Fijian and German ancestry, whose work unpacks the ways that culture is enacted and re-enacted in the diaspora. With this exhibition, Mitchell invokes the Fijian term, vuvale, a word in the Fijian language which translates to English as meaning family, the home, and extended community. It is a word with religious connotations, Vu meaning God and Vale meaning to watch over the house, which Mitchell correlates in her work.

Created specifically for Lewers House, this immersive installation interrogates the ways in which diasporic communities express notions of identity, self and communal, beginning in the home and extending through their communities.

Mitchell’s practice is underpinned by social and artistic research which involves returning to her home village and Fiji and recording her experiences through newly created photographs and the collection of cultural and archival materials.

Vuvale plays out against the backdrop of a Victorian era farmhouse, originally the home of the Lewers family, as a means to underline both differences and similarities between the Lewers as a migrant family, settling on Dharug land, and Mitchell’s own experiences.

Landscape and portraiture photography are contrasted with traditional Fijian textiles, reimagining the space as a family home, akin to those found in Fiji. In doing so, Vuvale speaks to universal experiences of affinities and difference.

Karlina Mitchell’s Vuvale is on exhibition in Lewers House from 17 August – 27 October 2024