Who am I Serving - Tea Pump/Teepumpe

This work was developed during the exchange project 2011 with Sudanese and German Artists and was funded by Goethe Institut, Khartoum, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the catalog by Freundeskreis der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. (Khartoum, Sudan - Karlsruhe, Germany)

Inspired by a traditional water charity system in Sudan, this installation works simultaneously by giving and taking. Just as in the streets of Khartoum, water-filled jars in front of houses for everyone passing by, the tea pumping station serves everyone a deep red Hibiscus tea. To get a cup of tea from the installation, you just ask someone to either hold the cup or pump the tea at one of the stations. These stations are embedded within the exhibition and link them with pipes through the entire space toward a central tap station. The Tea comes originally from friends from Sudan and for me it is strongly connected to human rights struggle and the equality of women. These rights are often disregarded in Sudan, artists face great risks for their work and especially for woman it is hard to gain access within the society. This special tea is mostly served at art openings in Khartoum by everyone, elsewhere it is only allowed by women.

The accompanying drawing started at the beginning of the Karlsruhe project as a group work. The artists talked about the universe, moment of beauty, about struggle of Life and exchange, water and oil wars and their exploitation/trade. Later, I transformed it into an image of a woman, always in regard to the initial aspects of the others and linked these also with a piping system running through her body.