produced by the abdominal glands of bees to create cells of the honeycomb - an example of “animal” architecture - wax acts as a metaphor and link between nature and its organization on the one hand and human intellect and creativity on the other. Its malleability, the way it is both fluid and solid means it can be used for any type of representation, as a continuous and original act of creation
the symbolism of the bee, with its diligence and assiduousness with which she carries out its labor can be put on par with the work of the artist and the discipline with which she creates
the works presented here are made of beeswax or include beeswax in combination with other materials
the goal of this exhibition is to ponder on the significance of artistic labor as an act of self-care and the relevance of time in the process of creation
bees are among the oldest species of living creatures in the world / their presence on earth can be traced back about eighty million years / the habitations which bees fashion from wax might be described as the primordial shelters of developed life on earth, an analogy to the notion of the ‘primordial hut,’ the first human habitation / this would make wax one of the most ancient building materials of life / viewed in terms of the human time scale, bees’ dwellings of wax are far more ancient than any human dwelling / they take us back into prehistoric eras, periods in which human conception of time, on which we are so extremely dependent today, did not yet exist
among other issues the works in this exhibition touch is empathy between man and nature. Working with beeswax, the material in the conceptual proximity to its creators – the bees – sets a condition for understanding other living bodies
the artist asks the questions that karen barad asks, 'what if it is only in facing the inhuman that an ethics committed to the rupture of indifference can arise? What if it is only in the encounter with the inhuman in all its liveliness, its conditions of im/possibility, that we can truly confront our inhumanity, that is, our actions lacking compassion? How would we feel if it is by the way of the inhuman that we come to feel, to care, to respond?'
performance: work (2021)
duration: thirty-one day
beeswax is the concrete, steel, and glass of the bee nest / bees must ingest and metabolize twenty pounds of honey to make one pound of wax / bees manipulate wax with their mandibles and add enzymes and saliva to the mix. to convert nectar to honey /a bee regurgitates nectar as many as two hundred times to raise the sugar level. she also must fan her wings up to 226, 400 times over the comb to evaporate the water / similarly, the artist labors over her creations contributing energy, tenacity, and time
wall poem
i deconstructed deleuze and guattari's text from 'memories of a sorcerer' /. the text reads:
Sorcerers have always held the anomalous position, at the edge of the fields or woods. They haunt the fringes. They are at the borderline of the village, or between villages. […]The relation with the anomalous is one of alliance. The sorcerer has a relation of alliance with the demon as the power of the anomalous.
the words from the resulting poem adorned the gallery walls during the show
programming: bee’s wrap demo
as the works at this exhibition are created with beeswax or beeswax with combination with other materials, i view beeswax as a natural material that humans used for millennia / considering today’s environmental concerns, beeswax presents a sustainable option for making art
i look for ways to use sustainable/reusable materials and to create less waste in my everyday life / for example, i make my own compost, grow vegetables and flowers and grasses for the bees, recycle and use natural cleaning solutions for my house
recently i discovered bee wraps, a natural alternative to plastic wrap for food storage / it allows one to reduce plastic use in your kitchen with a healthier, more sustainable way to store food / the wraps are made of cotton, beeswax, pine resin (rosin) and some oil. I’ll show how to make bee’s wraps
programming: artist talk
during the process of working with beeswax, i researched and learned a lot about bees and wax / my artist talk expounds this learning experiences by answering such questions as: what role do bees and beeswax play historically and today?What are my personal relationships with bees? as i started to use beeswax a year-and-a-half ago, how and why did i become interested in using beeswax in my art? how has my work evolved since then? since the spring of 2020, my work focuses heavily on beeswax / what role did the pandemic play in this?What does inspire my art?