Red Hong Yi captivated the world last year with her unconventional ways of using everyday items like basketballs and coffee stains to create beautiful artwork and in her latest project that was commissioned to be displayed at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, Red uses tea bags– 20,000 to be exact, to illustrate a man preparing a teh tarik.
Weighing at 200kg, the tea bags were stained in 10 different shades of brown by steeping each bag in hot water at different lengths of time, then stapled and attached to a wiremesh and then, finally hung on a frame. Says Red, “Locals gather in kopitiams and mamaks, and here they talk about where to buy the best durians, the traffic, politics, weather, soccer… It is a drink that brings people together and I hope that I get to share a bit of my country through this piece!” Watch it for yourself, it’s incredible how she puts the entire piece together.