Trivial Tea Time

hand-painted under glaze on bisqueware

My inspiration for this piece was the Spode plates and tea sets that we have in my home, which have been passed down for generations. I have always been particularly interested in the beauty and intricate detail of the images on these ceramics, the original blue and white designs have become some of the most collectable in the history of ceramics.

I was also inspired by a research project that I did in High School on Guy Tillim. I found his portraits of child soldiers truly fascinating and exceptional, but particularly scary. Before discovering the work of Guy Tillim I had no idea that children were being used in our modern day society as soldiers. Those haunting photographs have stayed with me all this time.

Instead of illustrating images of beauty, like seen on the Spode, I have chosen to illustrate starving children, child soldiers, firearms, and heavy artillery, but simultaneously illustrate these darker images in a beautiful way, keeping with the Spode colours and similar patterns.

I think every child deserves basic necessities, such as food, water, clothing, shelter, education, and health care, lacking these essential goods and services to meet the basic needs of life creates a situation of poverty. There are approximately 2.2 billion children in the world; 1 billion of them are living in poverty (every second child) 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world.

Conflict at the local and international level can stem from poverty, and the greatest challenge that the human race has ever faced still remains to live in a world free of the threat of violence.

Around the world, children from poor families, children that are orphaned or refugees, and children who are not attending school are particularly at risk for being recruited as child soldiers. They are trained to fight in wars and conflicts. Easily manipulated, children are sometimes coerced to commit grave atrocities, including rape and murder of civilians using assault rifles such as AK-47s. Some are forced to injure or kill members of their own families or other child soldiers. Others serve as porters, cooks, guards, messengers, spies, and sex slaves. Approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world. Although most child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years old, significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded.

While the causes of many international conflicts are multifaceted and complex, there can be no denying the role of arms in international security. Ironically, the ending of one conflict often means the creation of a new one as a large number of weapons - such as used guns, grenades and tanks - are sold at low cost to guerrillas and armies in other countries. 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it did not happen.

Frequent news broadcasts of negative world issues such as the ones I have mentioned above have also contributed to my inspiration. It is everyone’s responsibility to promote a culture of peace, and resolve differences without resorting to conflict.

I chose to illustrate these images on a tea set because when people sit and drink tea worldly matters come up for discussion, like what may have been on the news that particular day. People sit and discuss matters that are relevant to the times, but most never take any action. When there is so much that could be done to help others and that desperately needs to be done, from a safe distance away, people sit drinking their tea and conversing. When all these horrific things are going on in the world, drinking tea seems of very little importance or value.

I chose to paint with a dark blue underglaze onto bisqueware. I arranged dark, poignant images with detailed patterns in a way that would attract the viewer. The beauty engages the viewer from a distance, and then at close range, shocks and surprises them with the choice of imagery. It confronts them with the real world, themselves and the possibilities of change, something which modern society has made them too desensitised to see.

It is an original piece because it re-invents the purpose of tea time, and it stands apart from other tea sets. The emotional and moral communication of the imagery can’t be dismissed or ignored, and forces the viewer to embrace what they would rather leave unexamined. It’s simultaneously haunting and beautiful, compelling and repelling, frightening and fascinating.

I think this piece adds value to the contemporary art world, because it speaks truth, is relevant to the times and contributes to human knowledge. The art world values the process of research and inquiry, and appreciates discourse.