Vai Niu Wai Niu Coconut Water is the Caboolture Regional Art Gallery's latest exhibition, showcasing Australian artists with connections to the Moananui a Kiwa region of New Zealand. In alignment with this area's cultural practices, the exhibition explores the diverse issues of continuity of cultural practices, colonisation, the environment, and the body as site of memory.
The reference to coconut water comes from its representation in Western society, and the relationship to the regions it traditionally comes from. This popular product has become synonymous with desires for health and wellbeing, and is now readily available at most major supermarkets and cafes. Coconut water from Thailand, the Philippines, Viti Fiji, Samoa and Malaysia is presented in shiny packaging. Rather than showcasing the plantations most coconuts come from, the packaging promotes a fictitious and more exotic ‘other place'.
Vai Niu Wai Niu Coconut Water refers to the history of the coconut as a symbol of tropical life force, not a packaged item that is sold with shiny labels and celebrity endorsements. It grows from the sand and creates an environment for crabs, birds, insects and even people.