Honeybush Give and Take (26 April 2009)

Almonds, apples, apricots, avocados, berries, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cherries, cotton, cucumbers, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi fruit, legumes, lemons, macadamianuts, melon, naartjies, nectarines, olives, onions, oranges, peaches, peanuts, pears, pumpkins, soybeans, squash, sunflowers.

In early 2008, the agricultural world was rocked with reports that honeybee colonies had suffered a  significant decline for the third year in a row, attributed to the rather obscurely defined Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  Reports came to light outlining the extent to which food production and by extension, the survival of mankind relies on these often overlooked workers of the field.  In 2009, South African newspapers also began flighting the story that local bee farmers have also sustained numerous losses due to a parasite, brought in from the USA, and therefore our food production can be seen to be likewise threatened.

Honeybush-Give and Take served to bring to bring to public attention in a visible manner, the number of agricultural (not to mention natural) products that are 100% reliant on bees for pollination.  Held as a public picnic outside the South African National Gallery, its position on top of one of the bronze soap boxes served as the thing differentiating this public work from a private picnic on the lawn.

Members of the public as well as friends were invited to help themselves to parts of the ‘still life’ and in return sit down and partake in the conversations surrounding the work.  After a bulk of the people had dispersed, the remainder of the food was left to surprise passers-by as well as to be taken away by the birds, squirrels and rats that share in the space.