As urbanisation
increases, societies continue to sever ties with nature. Perspectives of our
dependence on it for survival are being lost. The lessons and stories about
interdependence and survival that our ancestors learnt from animals and insects
are also being lost. One such animal is the honey bee. These insects have long
been loved for their honey, but they are also hard working insects, that
collaborate in ways we do not fully understand. Their critical importance on
our food chain has been in the news as population estimates of bees indicate
numbers have significantly declined in recent years. This project aims to
highlight the plight of the honey bee, and draw attention to its importance,
and how we need to be in dialogue with such animals.
This project is to
create a beehive sculpture from clay hexagons, some glazed, some bisqued and
some green ware (unfired). To reflect the essential contribution to the food
ecoweb, the sculpture will change and move as pieces disintegrate as the
rain, sea or other external
factors erode the unfired clay hexagons. A photographic journey of the hive
will be recorded.
During the festival
the public will be invited to create small clay “bees” to live in the hive,
which will also change position and may be destroyed as the hive evolves over
the festival week.
At night the hive will
be lit from the inside with solar lights , which will illuminate the role of
the bees so the audience can consider the collaboration of the bees to produce
honey, and more importantly their role as pollinators of food plants.
