Tea Ceremony at Plas Bodfa

Updated: Sep 24, 2022

During Easter, the weeks of 9th-24th April at the Plas Bodfa, Isle of Anglesey in North Wales

there was an exhibition for Bodfa Continuum. I was asked by the wonderful artist Wanda

Garner if I could collaborate with her on her tea ceremony concept, where you could book in

30min slots to have a cuppa tea and a conversation. Inspired by Marina Abramovic: The

Artist is Present, we decided that, as I am now Cardiff based, the best way for me to portray

this ceremony, would be for me to create a digital film that could be shown in between tea

drinking sessions.

Plas Bodfa is 'is a currently empty 100-year-old manor house with a greenhouse, stables,

pond, five-acre field, orchard, gardens and lodge.' Julie Upmeyer and Jonathan Lewis are

constantly inspiring the most amazing art connected to the house and have been opening it up

for exhibitions for everyone to enjoy! Please check out their website and previous projects:

https://www.plasbodfa.com/plas-bodfa-today -check out the amazing images of this beautiful place.

THE TEA CEREMONY FILM:

At the beginning of the film, as I could not be there in person,I decided to create a connection

with the audience by looking into the camera for a prolonged period of time ( deleted the bit

about when it was showing as mentioned above). This allowed me to communicate a

conversation without words and was a direct influence from Abramovic.( deleted this bit as

explained in first sentence above) Then I began the ordinary movement of physically making

a cup of tea, exaggerating a few movements, for myself... the patterns developed intuitively, a

tea ceremony for myself that others could enjoy by watching my process. Then I made my

own ritual, including how I make my own cup of tea, which in British culture can be

controversial whether the milk goes in first or last (spoiler: I put it in after). I then

exaggerated my own habitual movements and found joyful moments when having my cup of

tea and naturally reacted . As an improvisation artist I love that the moment can only happen

once. Although, I had the privilege of re-watching myself back and perfecting it for film, I

decided to keep with the original filming because that is what made me feel most excited,

anything else would've felt false It then ends with my offering of a cup of tea where Alex

Griffiths hands play tribute to my piece. I wanted this to relate to Wanda's actual

conversation and the physical act of making and pouring a cuppa in person. It opened

unspoken conversation through gestures, hoping that this would relate to everyone’s

experience , especially in a one-to-one social environment. Overall, I hope that the piece was

relatable, and engaging .

It should be noted that there were a lot of amazing local artists that created work at Plas

Bodfa working with all mediums of art. Please take a look at this link below to check out all

that was offered:

Please also check out the wonderful artist Wanda Garner, her print work is truly inspiring, powerful, and beautiful:

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