01 / 06
The Tea Set
Core Themes
Institutional silencing, tokenism, gendered labour, the gap between presence and voice.
Artist Statement
The table is set. Carefully arranged, aestheticised, composed. She is positioned at the edge of power, visible, but never seated in the chair she earned. Her presence is mistaken for performance; her proximity mistaken for participation.
“They don’t want us in the room. They want us close enough to photograph, but far enough to ignore.”
Concept Breakdown
The installation stages a formal meeting table with chairs arranged around it. In front of one seat, beside the notepad, sits a tea tray with cups, saucer, and kettle. The chair is pulled slightly back and angled, as if the person sitting there is about to get up. Using the red filter, visitors discover hidden texts on the name plates revealing that the woman seated there held more experience, more qualifications, and a longer service record than the men around her, yet was the one expected to serve tea. Her notepad contains not meeting materials but trivial tasks: planning birthday parties and the like. This illustrates how women in political and professional spaces are routinely assigned non-promotable emotional labour, such as managing social dynamics, organising celebrations, and mediating conflicts, and continue to be slotted into gender-focused roles regardless of their actual expertise. The guiding line: “being in the room is not the same as being heard.”