Cup of Cut Trees, 2019
coffee grounds, coffee water, coffee filter on paper
Modern coffee production is destroying our ecosystems, contributing to the deforestation of millions of acres of land and the pollution of our water sources. But many of us are not aware of what lies behind our morning cup of coffee. On the surface, the coffee industry appears organized and clean - similar to the clear rows in the piece. However, when you dig deeper into how coffee - and by extension, this piece - is made, you uncover the unfortunate truth that coffee - and the coffee industry - is dirty. This is translated in the composition through the smearing and staining of the coffee, of which only wasted parts were used, in addition to used coffee filters. On the surface however, the piece remains beautiful to look at, so you don’t wonder what lies underneath – just like a nicely packaged cup of coffee. This not only makes a statement about the deleterious effects of coffee production on the environment, but also offers a solution to make use of waste and bring awareness to our harmful habits.
With coffee as my “non-material”, I began by brainstorming the various meanings which coffee holds : energy, dependency, convenience, efficiency, and sustenance. Coffee being so versatile and varied, there were many avenues I could borrow to create this piece. From being a treasured and precious ingredient in native communities to becoming easily accessible and cheap in Western society, coffee holds a heavy history fraught with legacies of colonialism, westernization, and exploitation.
I decided to focus on an issue that is very important to me which is the environment - more specifically, waste. Coffee, despite appearances, contributes to this problem from the production stage all the way to consumption; when coffee is processed, it not only consumes large amounts of water - necessary for depulping and washing the coffee beans - it also pollutes waterways, firstly by contributing to the euthrofication of water - wherein water becomes over-saturated with organic material which is harmful to marine ecosystems - and it contaminates clean water with the pulp leftover from separating the bean from its skin. And then there are the innumerable coffee cups, coffee bags, and coffee filters that are thrown away every day.
The composition is inspired by an image of hilltops covered in coffee monocrops and sparsely populated with trees. It exemplifies the bare landscape that results from the clearing out of land to make way for coffee cultures.
Below are some of the material tests I did :
Below is the project in progress:
