Canadian artist Sarah Hatton collects dead bees.
“Why on earth would she do that?” you ask.
Like many an artist, she is out to make a point, and it’s a significant one.
Arranging dead bees into elaborate mandalas on fields of white,
Hatton is making a stark visual statement about the connection between declining bee populations and the use of pesticides.
“The link between neonicotinoid pesticides and the worldwide decline of bee populations is a crisis that cannot be ignored,” Hatton explains on her website. “I have arranged thousands of dead honeybees in mathematical patterns symbolically linked to monoculture crops, such as the Fibonacci spiral found in the seed head of the sunflower. The viewer experiences the vertigo of this lifeless swarm, a dizzying optical illusion that echoes the bees’ loss of ability to navigate due to the toxins locked within the very source of their sustenance.”
Powerful stuff.
A picture, after all, speaks a thousand words.
The complexity of honey bees is one of nature’s most interesting secrets. All of their relationships to plant life and humans is both beautiful and haunting. With declines of bee populations at startling rates, we are finally getting what we need to be doing to help them in focus. I hope it won’t be too late!
Powerful! Granddaughters were amazed at these pictures!
The more I hear about this issue, the happier I am that I became a backyard beekeeper to help nurture these critters. They are utterly fascinating. Thanks for sharing this art with us.
I, too, am a backyard beekeeper and loving it. I encourage every to learn more about this important issue and help our planet’s bees.
We all need to speak up about pesticides killing our bee population, and also the bad effects the pesticides have on our own lives.
So beautiful. I have never seen this before.
Makes me sad. I love the honey bees. People need to know about their plight though.
I care about them and a Sustainable earth. Beautiful art though.
I and my husband have been beekeeping for several years. The Honeybee is an amazing! The members of the colony are working together, no complaining, towards only one goal to maintain the colony. We have much to learn from bees. We need to help sustain our Bees. Beautiful art but sad it comes from our planets loss.
So disturbingly beautiful. I love and admire bees. When I spend time with my flowers in the spring, bees keep me company! I love it that they come to my yard and gather without fear. Thank you for bringing this reality to light.