Tea & Leaves: Alpine Echos

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity • Banff • AB • Canada.
August - September 2023

photo credit Ingrid Percy

Project Reflection

Tea & Leaves: Alpine Echoes was an immersive experience developed during our 2023’s thematic residency Meeting For Teas at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Our project combines performance, storytelling, ceramics, and field studies within the local environment. Throughout the residency, this project has undergone a significant transformation, thanks to the ongoing support and insightful feedback from the faculties, and stimulating conversations sparked among our fellow participants. 

During the residency, Xiao collected ambient sounds during our hikes, created natural dyes with tea, and finished writing an emotionally charged story that explored her memory of tea and finding roots in a once-foreign land. Meanwhile, Qiming experimented with multiple traditional ceramic techniques, created a set of ceramic teaware inspired by the natural environment of Banff, and wrote poetry that explores his spirituality and memory of his late grandfather.

During the Open Studio, we presented our project before the sacred Guardian Buffalo Mountain. Dawning in our elaborate costumes, Xiao narrates the two heartfelt stories. At the same time, Qiming performs ritualistic drumming and a Yi-Tribe-inspired tea ceremony using the ceramic vessels he made during the residency. After serving the audience Qiming’s special blended, “forest tea”, both Xiao and Qiming offered the tea to the mountain, a symbolic gesture that expresses our gratitude towards this land, which we now call home while paying homage to Xiao’s Han-Chinese heritage, and Qiming’s Yi-Himalayan ancestry.