Colonising with Tea

Colonisation is presented, using the aristocratic event of Afternoon Tea as a vehicle - through which to discuss its more brutal themes. The final piece named the Victorian Tea Plotting Table is a juxtaposition of the plotting tables of the War Rooms and the tea tables at Afternoon Tea. Through the mapping and annotation of the event of Afternoon Tea and as table etiquettes slowly become war strategies, we highlight Tea’s connection with the unyielding growth of the British Empire. Movements of Teacups parallel those of vast battleships, whilst territories on the table are gained and lost; spills of sugar and strawberry preserve are coded as if deaths on the battlefield. Read Less