A Bee Society, 2013
eraser on bookprint
traces of honey
15 x 10 cm
(framed 30 x 30 cm)
A Bee Society, 2013
honeycomb with bookprint
15 x 35 cm
A Bee Society, 2013
eraser on bookprint
traces of beeswax
10 x 10 cm each (3x)
(framed 30 x 30 cm)
Beekeeping in Etla Valley, Oaxaca
A Bee Society (2012/2013) was established in Oaxaca, Mexico, in close collaboration with the local beekeeping community. A Bee Society draws on the complex social structures of bees to explore parallels with human societies. Selected images from the 1938 Hitler Youth picture book published by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, were placed between beeswax sheets inside beehives. When removed, the images bore significant traces left by the colonies, resulting from the bees’ habit of consuming or removing all foreign material from the hive before producing larvae. The work reflects how a bee society is organized around the survival of the colony and the queen, without defining itself through the elimination of other species. Even under attack, these principles persist, offering a model of internal cohesion in contrast to hierarchical and exclusionary human structures.