Quynh Lam

Quynh Lam, ‘Quarran-tea’, 2020-2021, white marble, wood, used teabags, 84 x 76cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

I returned to the United States of America after the opening of my three-month sitespecific flowers installation at VCCA (Hanoi) in December 2019 due to the early COVID-19 rumours. 2020 forced me to reconsider and reconceptualise my current projects and still be truthful about this period of time.

'Quarran-tea' is made from the tea bags that I used each day during the pandemic. I started keeping my teabags on the first day of the lockdown as a way of marking time. I framed all the lockdown dates under the teabags in marble, like gravestones. This reflects my past year: unpredictable, lonesome, ruminative.

In 2021 or 2022, I will return to Vietnam and continue my long-term project. Currently, I am working with coffee pigments for the 'Peripheral Memories Project' in Italy. I extend the concepts about art and nature from my previous practice as I have a long history using plant-based pigments.