Cha- Dao- The Teachings of Tea is a new visual project I started working on in October this year.
I have learned much about tea and Cha Dao whilst living in Asia. Tea has been one of my best teachers.
Over the past two months, I have also been learning more about using text with images. I started working on this creative project inspired by some brainstorming sessions in workshops with other photographers and writers.
The idea is to develop this tea theme into an exhibition and a book. The project is growing slowly, and I will share more as I refine the idea and put this body of work together. I am also inspired to put my thoughts on paper and to offer word and image workshops in the new year. More about that soon.
( This is a temporary title- as my research into this idea and project continue and the project develops, the name might change- but for now, I’ll call it Cha Dao – The Teachings of Tea.)
You teach me to pause and live each moment. You activate all my senses with each of our interactions. I seek to be in harmony with the rhythm of the universe. I often stumble and fall. I have much to learn as a student of the tea leaf.
Photographs and text by
Lizane Louw
Lizane Louw is a Berlin-based artist, visual researcher, and journalist working across photography, long-form visual storytelling, and material practice. Through sustained fieldwork across Asia, Europe, and Africa, her work explores environmental change, cultural memory, and human–land relationships through photography, visual archives, and research-led inquiry. Alongside her visual practice, Louw founded Atelier Māya, a Berlin-based textile research atelier focused on heritage printing traditions, natural dyes, earth pigments, and contemporary textile practice.