The Buzz

•

The Buzz

The subject of this work is the bees that have died due to pesticides. I was originally inspired by the spraying of pesticides in Florida to protect citizens from the Zika virus. These pesticides were sprayed without warning to the affected citizens, even though, according to the EPA during Naled spraying, you should stay indoors, rinse skin and eyes if you come into contact, and rinse any items like grills or children's toys that are outside during the spraying. A consequence of this spraying is that many of the bees in the area were killed. Instead of finding a specific spray or solution that would just kill the mosquitos, it was easier for them just to wipe out all the insects in the area. While contacting bee keepers to find honey bees that died of natural causes for the project, two of the bee keepers stated that bees are no longer dying of natural causes, they are dying from pesticides, and when they bring in bees from other areas, it weakens their immune system due to being exposed to different parasites and diseases. The honey bees that I used for this project were in fact killed by pesticide sprays on the surrounding farm land. Bees that weren’t killed by the original spraying would fly out to the surrounding farm lands to pollinate and would come into contact with these sprays and die. Each frame is 12 x 15 inches. The full piece is roughly 124 x 15 inches, but depending on space available the frames could be placed close together bringing the piece down to 116 x 15 inches.

I created typography with dead bees to help bring more awareness to this issue. I used the typeface Avenir Black as a basis for the letterforms to spell the word pesticide. If we don’t have bees to pollinate, then we don’t have food. To represent each colony of bees, I placed each letter in a separate frame to represent the multitude of hives affected by pesticides. These frames are placed two inches apart to create an individual study of the letters as well. I am also commenting on toxins such as Sarin, used in the attack in Syria. Sarin was originally developed as a pesticide in Germany according to the CDC. When I was in elementary school, the mulch was sprayed underneath the play equipment to kill the bees. When I went out to play, I came into contact with it and found out I was highly allergic to pesticide spray. I broke out in huge painful hives all over my body for a week and had to use icepacks to stop the swelling.