Addressing ‘gaps in history’ through bush tea: A conversation with Barbadian visual artist <PERSON> · Global Voices
(Bush) Tea Services at The Empire Remains Shop, London, UK, 2016. Photo byTim <PERSON>. Image courtesy <PERSON>, used with permission.
Imagine going to London, setting up a pop-up tea shop as part of an exhibition that delves into the implications of “selling back the remains of the British Empire […] today,” and using it as an opportunity to reframe the conversation about a shared, traumatic history using indigenous strains — known throughout the Caribbean as bush tea — of Britain's signature drink.
That's exactly what Barbadian visual artist and cultural advocate <PERSON> did as part of her ongoing work into the ways in which shared historical suffering reveals itself and how this trauma — much of which remains unaddressed — is managed, on both individual and national levels.
Her exploration is deep intersectionality of art, agriculture, economics and history which, far from being relegated to plantation societies of the 17th century, have relevance in modern-day issues. In this second installment, we discuss the spillover.
<PERSON> at Walker's Dairy, St. George, Barbados. Photo by <PERSON>, used with permission.
<PERSON> (JMF): One aspect of your bush tea concept has been a project called “(Bush) Tea Services.” How did you manage to have conversations about our shared transatlantic history by creolising Britain’s favourite drink?
<PERSON> (AD): Commissioned by the UK-based curatorial team, Cooking Sections, for their [London-based] 2016 pop-up exhibition, “The Empire Remains Shop,” I made this in collaboration with Barbadian master potter, <PERSON>.
Referred to as a blood-sweetened beverage by abolitionist <PERSON>, the British drank tea grown on plantations in the East sweetened by sugar grown on plantations in the West.
Dismantling the English tea set, I inlaid 18th and 19th century porcelain and clay shards unearthed from the soil, repurposing fragments from which I served unsweetened varieties of bush tea, harvested from the fields, including cerasee, bay leaf, blue vervain and lemongrass. An imperfect tea service which spills while being poured or drunk, it addresses gaps in history highlighting the inadequacy of inherited understandings about our collective past.
(Bush) Tea Services, 2016. Photo by <PERSON>. Image courtesy <PERSON>, used with permission.
JMF: How do you think bush tea infusions can help us heal today?
AD: Returning to the land today can feed us, contributing to food sovereignty and the wellness sector by expanding our knowledge and use of wild botanicals and their healing properties thereby repairing and renewing our relationship to the land.
<PERSON>: What are some of your favourite bush teas and why?
<PERSON>: I love iced lemongrass tea on a hot day and enjoy combinations of lemongrass, bay leaf and blue vervain. 678
I’m experimenting with roots, including ginger and turmeric, both grown locally and used widely all across Barbados. Steeping them and mixing them with tamarind pulp provides a powerful detoxifier and antioxidant drink. I’m also making stains and inks from them to draw with.
(<PERSON>) Tea Services, 2016. Photo by <PERSON>. Image courtesy <PERSON>, used with permission.
<PERSON>: Given that we’re in the midst of a pandemic, what do you think these indigenous methods of self-care and healing have to teach us about interconnectivity and resilience?
AD: Since August of 2019, I have been collecting and drying what Bajans call prickly pear cactus which reportedly has healing properties, including combatting diabetes [and] cholesterol, and purifying contaminated water. This tenacious plant inspires me to consider adaptability and flexibility.
The Caribbean is a biodiversity hotspot increasingly threatened by natural disasters and the climate crisis. Taking care of ourselves means protecting, preserving and restoring the region’s declining plant life, conducting research to better understand the value of what grows in this region, investing in our botanical gardens, training professionals in botany and conservation, and educating ourselves to understand that our biodiversity is special — something to be proud of. This intraregional at-risk resource is ours to protect and we must advocate for our own well-being and that of the archipelago.
Prickly pear on studio wall. Photo by <PERSON>, used with permission. 941