Chiwi: A Way of Life
29 May, 2012 - 22 July, 2012
Photography Gallery
Jack Xie, The Way of Life (2012), Digital Photograph
Chiwi: A Way of Life is an exhibition by Photowhisper Incorporated, a non-profit association for New Zealand Chinese photographers. 'Chiwi' refers to a lifestyle that gains its ground through a fusion of personal proclivities towards both the Chinese and the Kiwi lifestyles. Curated by Jackie Xie of Photowhisper Incorporated, photographers give their own stories in their own ways about their daily lives in New Zealand. This exhibition celebrates the fusion, the difference, the tension, the embracement, and most importantly, the harmony of a multicultural society.
In the past ten years, the number of Chinese immigrants living in New Zealand has increased significantly. This impacts New Zealand ideology and instigates a cultural shift. This shift is not brought forward by the change of immigrants’ identity from Chinese to Kiwi, but by a fused lifestyle created by the cultural interactivity between Chinese and Kiwi. This gradually sediments to become a way of life: 'Chiwi'.
‘Chiwi’ represents the crossing between Chinese and Kiwi thoughts, with an ambivalent worldview and constant struggle to make decisions about paradoxical facets of daily life. Occupying this liminal space, a Chiwi is somebody who is between being a Chinese or a Kiwi, and has a hybrid identity in transition. There are often tensions between the minority and the majority (mainstream). Despite this, social harmony is achieved through acknowledgement of these tensions and the acceptance and embracement of any differences.
