Coconut
by
Ria Phatarphekar-Karmarkar
Coconut is a series of workshops, followed by a participatory performance, about the experience of being ‘othered’ as a person of colour in the UK.
It aims to empower and educate its participants and audiences by exploring themes of othering, discrimination and racism, through the lens of community, food and culture.
Coconut will bring communities together to discuss the experience of being ‘othered’ while sharing a meal. First, there will be workshops in which the participants will explore these themes. These conversations will form the basis of the participatory performance, which will take place around a dinner table with the conversation guided by Ria, in front of an audience.
Coconut was born from Ria’s experiences of growing up in an Indian household, where mealtimes were for chatting, sharing, and bonding over a home cooked meal.
Food is so deeply rooted in culture that it is the vehicle that carries the conversation in Coconut. Food speaks the language of domesticity, and that is the feeling that we hope to recreate in Coconut - comfort and belonging, through something that for most communities is the utmost feeling of ‘home’.