The More Tea I Drink; The Better I Get
Description: The video installation is referring to post-colonial studies and labour practices in the tea industry. Particularly women workers are assigned to the bottom strata and considered the most plentiful and cheapest labour force than as source of specialized labour. The workers still earn inadequate incomes, suffer from low level of health care and personal well-being. They are entrapped in poverty and cut off from the mainstream.
The sculpture features a hydraulic system that moves tea through a water pump and medium-sized PVC tubing connected between both compartments. The sound of the hydraulic system creates an echo in the space which synchronize with the video sound. Besides the sculpture, there is more Earl Grey Tea filled in the IV medical drips and conical flasks. Overall the Earl Grey Tea has a unique scent of bergamot in the space.
In the video, I have performed as a news anchor presenting a report on Theaflavin, a compound found in tea leaves that can inhibit the activities of the new coronavirus. I have collaborated with a friend, and she performed as a news reporter to inform the current views on economic and agricultural crisis. However, the video constructs basic questions we all ask ourselves: who am I? what am I? where am I? and some supplementary question; who is here with me?, and how can we help each other? I have drawn to provide less anxiety about Theaflavin molecule but more a general sense of care for others, oneself, one for situation and environment.
Saccharophobia
This sculpture is an research interpretation on history of sugar. The materials I have used are artificial food colours, glucose syrup and vegetable glycerin that moves sugar syrup through a water pump and PVC tubing connected between both compartments.
Artist Statement: I had been researching and understanding the colonial commodities such as tea and sugar preceding the will to trade as commercial goods. The global tea and sugar industry is facing several extraordinary issues and challenges related to climate change. The affected has an impact on the production systems and rapidly changing markets for tea and sugar. I want to show the materials of colonial history.
