Story behind the art of Katya Shiova
27th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators
Coconut, but Not a Nut
Cocos nucifera
Nature. Time. Evolution.
Three words that contain EVERYTHING.
It is easy to imagine a period of time, for example, nine months is the time for the maturation of a coconut or the time for the transformation of two cells into a new human. But 50 million years ago, when the first protococonut fell to the ground, the territory of modern Ukraine was still a sea - this is incomprehensible and exciting at the same time. These layers of time, layers of life - are my main source of fascination and inspiration.
Coconut is a fantastic fruit we call a nut, but it is not a nut. The liquid we call coconut milk is also not actually milk. A joke of nature and one of the most important plants in the history of human civilization.
What is a coconut? The fruit of the coconut palm botanically is a drupe, not a nut. In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the pip - UK, pit - US, stone, or pyrena) of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside.
What is coconut milk? There is clear liquid inside young coconuts called coconut water, which serves as a suspension for the endosperm of the coconut during the nuclear phase of development. As development continues, the endosperm matures into its cellular phase and deposits into the rind of the coconut pulp. What we call coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat.
The coconut is one of the most important plants in human history. The coconut tree, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The oldest fossil records of representatives of the genus Cocos date back to the early Eocene, 56-50 million years ago.
Coconuts were first domesticated by the Austronesian peoples in the islands of Southeast Asia, and were spread during the Neolithic period via their seaborne migrations as far east as the Pacific Islands, and as far west as Madagascar and the Comoros.
The coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine, and building materials, among many other uses. The inner flesh of the mature seed, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, forms a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Mature, ripe coconuts can be used as edible seeds, or processed for oil and plant milk from the flesh, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. Dried coconut flesh is called copra, and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking – frying in particular – as well as in soaps and cosmetics. Sweet coconut sap can be made into drinks or fermented into palm wine or coconut vinegar. The hard shells, fibrous husks, and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decoration.
The coconut has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in the Austronesian cultures of the Western Pacific where it is featured in their mythologies, songs, and oral traditions. It also had ceremonial importance in pre-colonial animistic religions. It has acquired religious significance in South Asian cultures, where it is used in the wedding and worship rituals of Hinduism. It also played a central role in the Coconut Religion, founded in 1963 in Vietnam.
I chose coconut as an art subject for two reasons. Firstly, I like its history, and its importance for humanity, and at the same time it is full of paradoxes. Secondly, I like its visual nature, its unusual fibrous texture, and simple color scheme, which emphasizes the fibers even more. To paint it, I used warm toned cotton paper with a satin surface and a very limited palette; I only needed four pigments to create its color and texture.
I was very interested in working with subtle details and their interaction with each other, to create “organic lace.”
The magic of nature is everywhere, in the butterfly that landed on your shoulder, fruit you bought in the grocery store, and in the ammonite that “slept” in stone for hundreds of millions of years.
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