BEE TOTEM
Exhibited at Two Manhattan West - 375 9th avenue, Midtown, Manhattan NYC
October - November 2024
This work was made possible with funding support from the Inner West Council.
No bees are harmed in this process. They are collected post mortum from local beekeepers.
Photography and film by Leo Harunah @visualsbyrazak, with funding support from Create NSW.
Resin Sponsorship: Illawarra Coatings
EXIT
photography by Leo Harunah @visualsbyrazak
EXIT is a silent swarm that hovers in mid air, forming a glittering tunnel; a portal; a path. It asks us to pause and consider our current direction. Is this the path we would like to take? Where might it lead us?
EXIT implores audiences to hear the cries of a land in distress. Hundreds of honey bees (collected post mortem from local beekeepers) are immortalised and magnified in a frozen moment after death. Every hair, every delicate, veined wing is magnified. Each orb is a memorial, a silent eulogy for the hard working honey bee.
Alone, the orbs inspire appreciation of the honey bee. En masse, they amplify the immensity of the species’ crisis. 750 orbs, each crafted carefully with one pair of human hands over several months, subvert the capitalist ideals of efficiency and unencumbered growth that have led us to disconnect from the natural systems that support our existence.
