Li Xinmo's performance piece Green Tea, presented in 2011 and now part of the collection at TEDA Museum of Contemporary Art, is a powerful commentary on environmental degradation and the dissonance between appearance and reality. By using "green tea" as both the title and the central metaphor, Li challenges the audience's perception of a familiar and traditionally wholesome beverage, transforming it into a symbol of pollution and ecological crisis.
In this performance, Li Xinmo fills a teapot with water from a river covered with green algae—water that has been visibly tainted by environmental neglect. She then pours this contaminated water into several glasses and drinks it, turning the act of drinking tea, usually associated with tranquility and health, into a disturbing reflection on the impact of pollution. The green algae, a sign of eutrophication often caused by excessive nutrient pollution, replaces the comforting notion of green tea with the harsh reality of environmental contamination.
The irony in the title Green Tea lies in the juxtaposition between the expected purity of tea and the actual impurity of the algae-laden water. This performance forces the audience to confront the hidden costs of environmental degradation, suggesting that what we perceive as harmless or natural might, in reality, be far from it. Through this piece, Li Xinmo critiques the dissonance between our everyday habits and the underlying environmental realities, highlighting the urgent need to address pollution and protect natural resources.
The performance is not just a statement about environmental issues but also a broader reflection on how easily reality can be masked by appearances. By drinking the contaminated "green tea," Li Xinmo embodies the ingestion of environmental degradation, forcing the audience to consider their own complicity in the ongoing destruction of nature.
