SWarm: artists respond to the pollinator crisis
curated by Alke Schmidt & roisin inglesby (Vestry House Museum)
1 february - 27 march 2020
Bees are in serious decline in the UK and across the world. Other pollinators, including hoverflies, moths, wasps, flies and butterflies, are also in trouble. Since 2000 British butterflies have declined by 58%; over 75% of Europe’s insect population has been lost in the last 30 years. Without pollinators many of our food crops will fail, with potentially devastating consequences.
The biggest single threat to pollinating insects is intensive farming. Its vast monocultures have shrunk pollinators’ foraging habitats, while heavy reliance on pesticides destroys their health. Meanwhile, DIY and garden stores sell a wide range of pesticides for use by home gardeners that are toxic to bees.
In Swarm, artists Anna Alcock, Hannah Ford, Miyuki Kasahara, Alke Schmidt and Sandie M. Sutton respond to this crisis with new work that draws on the latest research into the causes of the alarming decline of pollinators. Featuring painting, printmaking, textiles and sculpture this exhibition comes directly from Vestry House Museum, and is both a call to arms and a celebration of these wondrous and hard-working insects.
The biggest single threat to pollinating insects is intensive farming. Its vast monocultures have shrunk pollinators’ foraging habitats, while heavy reliance on pesticides destroys their health. Meanwhile, DIY and garden stores sell a wide range of pesticides for use by home gardeners that are toxic to bees.
In Swarm, artists Anna Alcock, Hannah Ford, Miyuki Kasahara, Alke Schmidt and Sandie M. Sutton respond to this crisis with new work that draws on the latest research into the causes of the alarming decline of pollinators. Featuring painting, printmaking, textiles and sculpture this exhibition comes directly from Vestry House Museum, and is both a call to arms and a celebration of these wondrous and hard-working insects.
Fragile
Alke Schmidt
Beeswax, child’s dress, fabrics, seed pods, wood, LED lights
2019
Humans depend on a very fragile, finely balanced eco-system that is now unravelling. Modern agriculture has unintended consequences that may threaten our very survival, for example neonicotinoid pesticides interfere with bees’ sense of orientation, meaning they can’t find their way back to their hive and perish. Without these tiny, vulnerable creatures, the future of younger generations is threatened.
The beeswax that supports, preserves and protects the child’s dress, seed pods and surrounding fabrics is from the bees that Schmidt keeps in her back garden in Walthamstow. The seeds pods come from Lunaria annua, known as Honesty, which is loved by butterflies and grows in nearby guerrilla gardens.
www.alkeschmidt.com
Alke Schmidt
Beeswax, child’s dress, fabrics, seed pods, wood, LED lights
2019
Humans depend on a very fragile, finely balanced eco-system that is now unravelling. Modern agriculture has unintended consequences that may threaten our very survival, for example neonicotinoid pesticides interfere with bees’ sense of orientation, meaning they can’t find their way back to their hive and perish. Without these tiny, vulnerable creatures, the future of younger generations is threatened.
The beeswax that supports, preserves and protects the child’s dress, seed pods and surrounding fabrics is from the bees that Schmidt keeps in her back garden in Walthamstow. The seeds pods come from Lunaria annua, known as Honesty, which is loved by butterflies and grows in nearby guerrilla gardens.
www.alkeschmidt.com
Winter’s Sleep
Miyuki Kasahara
Acrylic, clay, tree sap, Waltham Forest beeswax
2019
One cold night, a rat broke into a beehive to seek shelter. Hundreds of bees attacked the rat and killed it. In order to protect their hive from decay, the bees encased the carcass in beeswax (propolis), completely sealing it. The next
Spring when the beekeeper found the mummified rat, it appeared alive still.
Kasahara’s intensely life-like sculpture highlights the ability of bees to protect their communities, noting their ingenuity and resilience in times of danger.
web: www.miyukikasahara.com
instagram: @miyukikasaharaart
twitter: @miyuki_kasahara
facebook: miyuki.kasaharaart
Miyuki Kasahara
Acrylic, clay, tree sap, Waltham Forest beeswax
2019
One cold night, a rat broke into a beehive to seek shelter. Hundreds of bees attacked the rat and killed it. In order to protect their hive from decay, the bees encased the carcass in beeswax (propolis), completely sealing it. The next
Spring when the beekeeper found the mummified rat, it appeared alive still.
Kasahara’s intensely life-like sculpture highlights the ability of bees to protect their communities, noting their ingenuity and resilience in times of danger.
web: www.miyukikasahara.com
instagram: @miyukikasaharaart
twitter: @miyuki_kasahara
facebook: miyuki.kasaharaart
Wrestling Chatelaines
Hannah Ford
Reclaimed silks, cotton, cross-stich and machine embroidery
2019
In this work, the Queen Bee is part human, part goddess; composed from the figures of Bhramari, the Hindu goddess of black bees, and Melissa, the ancient Greek priestess of bees. The Queen Bee is wrestling an anonymous masked aggressor, an allusion to the struggle currently underway between pollinating insects and powerful pesticide-producing companies.
20th century circus sideshow banners are a recurring theme in Ford’s work. Sideshow performers and women wrestlers were allowed a certain amount of autonomy and financial independence. Here, the Queen Bee is also a celebration of women and their continued struggle for equality.
www.invisiblenumbers.co.uk/hannah-ford
Hannah Ford
Reclaimed silks, cotton, cross-stich and machine embroidery
2019
In this work, the Queen Bee is part human, part goddess; composed from the figures of Bhramari, the Hindu goddess of black bees, and Melissa, the ancient Greek priestess of bees. The Queen Bee is wrestling an anonymous masked aggressor, an allusion to the struggle currently underway between pollinating insects and powerful pesticide-producing companies.
20th century circus sideshow banners are a recurring theme in Ford’s work. Sideshow performers and women wrestlers were allowed a certain amount of autonomy and financial independence. Here, the Queen Bee is also a celebration of women and their continued struggle for equality.
www.invisiblenumbers.co.uk/hannah-ford
Wasp
Sandie M. Sutton
Reclaimed materials, mixed media
2019
Created from street junk, plastics and abandoned technology, Sutton’s work draws on the connections between pollinators and human-generated waste. While science and technology have many benefits, the inventions that shape our society and the associated rubbish they produce, are now contributing to the destruction of our natural world.
A potter wasp stands on a hive-shaped shopping trolley containing a store of food packaging, addressing the question of food sustainability and the impact of our eating habits on the environment.
sandiemsutton.com
Sandie M. Sutton
Reclaimed materials, mixed media
2019
Created from street junk, plastics and abandoned technology, Sutton’s work draws on the connections between pollinators and human-generated waste. While science and technology have many benefits, the inventions that shape our society and the associated rubbish they produce, are now contributing to the destruction of our natural world.
A potter wasp stands on a hive-shaped shopping trolley containing a store of food packaging, addressing the question of food sustainability and the impact of our eating habits on the environment.
sandiemsutton.com
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Threats: Red List (L)
Solutions: Planting (R)
Anna Alcock
Linocut
2019
Carved and printed by hand over hundreds of hours, this linocut charts Alcock’s journey to learn more about pollinators. The story begins with some of the interesting facts she discovered through visiting and drawing at the Natural History Museum, London. The second panel references her discovery of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, which highlights the threats our pollinators and insects face, and her reading of Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale, which offers an in-depth look at the lives of bumblebees. The final panel proposes some solutions to help our wild native pollinators survive.
www.annaalcock.com
Solutions: Planting (R)
Anna Alcock
Linocut
2019
Carved and printed by hand over hundreds of hours, this linocut charts Alcock’s journey to learn more about pollinators. The story begins with some of the interesting facts she discovered through visiting and drawing at the Natural History Museum, London. The second panel references her discovery of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, which highlights the threats our pollinators and insects face, and her reading of Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale, which offers an in-depth look at the lives of bumblebees. The final panel proposes some solutions to help our wild native pollinators survive.
www.annaalcock.com
Window Gallery
1B Coppermill Lane
London E17 7HA
Open 24 hours/7 days a week
1B Coppermill Lane
London E17 7HA
Open 24 hours/7 days a week
The Window Gallery is a collaboration between the art collective, Invisible Numbers, with The Mill Community Hub,
St James Big Local, Waltham Forest Council Regeneration Team, The Stow Brothers and everyone from the neighbourhood in and around the St James Street area of East London. Thank you.
St James Big Local, Waltham Forest Council Regeneration Team, The Stow Brothers and everyone from the neighbourhood in and around the St James Street area of East London. Thank you.
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