The Bee Cape, 2019

This Cape, made from plastic sheeting died with tumeric, was made in collaboration with Heather Swan, author of “Where Honeybees Thrive.” The Bee Cape traveled with Swan as she toured with her book, which focuses in large part on listening to the bees. She seeks to learn what they need at present when facing rapid decline due to problems such as ubiquitous pesticide use, habitat reduction, and climate change. It also addresses the strategies we can employ to save the honeybees and other pollinators. After each talk, Swan invited her audience (which included people from South Africa, Holland, Australia, Spain, Germany, and many states in the U.S.) to add a message to the Cape about what they have learned from the bees.

The bees inspired messages that included practical advice like: “Plant native flowers,” “Stop using pesticides,” and “Buy organic food.” But they also delivered messages for us as humans living on a fragile planet: “Connect, collaborate, cooperate, create.” and “Listen to the insects…tend our garden kindly.”