Vuvale

Karlina Mitchell

Vuvale is an exhibition of new works by Blue Mountains artist, Karlina Mitchell. 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 term, ‘vuvale’, a word in the Fijian language which translates to English as meaning family, tribe, and extended community. It is a word with spiritual connotations, ‘Vu’ meaning ancient spirit and ‘vale’ home, which Mitchell correlates in her work.

Created specifically for Lewers House, this immersive installation interrogates the ways in which diasporic communities express notions of self and communal identity, 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 portrait 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