Exhibition uses art and film to highlight plight of the British bee

The plight of British bees – and our longstanding reliance upon them – is to be explored through a major new exhibition at Plymouth University.

Apiculture: Bees and The Art of Pollination will feature the work of ten leading contemporary artists as a way to celebrate the influence of bees on our daily lives.

It will also invite audiences to reflect on how the British bee population can inspire us to think about our relationship with the natural world as a whole.

Being staged in the Peninsula Arts Gallery, from April 12 to May 31, there will be work on show from Anne Brodie, Susan Derges, Tessa Farmer, Alec Finlay, Cath Keay, Rob Kesseler, Amy Shelton, Thomas Thwaites, Marcus Vergette and Bill Woodrow.

Amy Shelton is also curating the show as part of the Honeyscribe project – which is supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award – and said: “From prehistoric times to the present day, humans have felt a mysterious connection to bees, delighted by their honey and fascinated by their communal behaviour and ecological function. But so much of what they do goes unseen and, as a result, their battle to survive against intensive farming, habitat loss and pesticides can go unnoticed. This exhibition is a way to celebrate our bee population and bring their plight to the forefront of thinking – it is about making the invisible visible.”

In recent years, worldwide bee losses have accelerated to severely threaten honeybee populations as well as wild bees and other pollinating insects.

But an estimated one-third of the human diet still comes from insect-pollinated plants, and with the global population predicted to rise by one billion in the next 12 years, they will continue to play a vital role in human society.

Sarah Chapman, Director of Peninsula Arts at Plymouth University, said: “Apiculture: Bees and The Art of Pollination is a unique exhibition that will bring ten of the UK’s most talented contemporary artists to Plymouth. Through a series of tantalising and thought provoking artworks the exhibition raises important questions about some of the major issues facing our planet.”

Apiculture: Bees and The Art of Pollination will also feature a range of associated events, including a series of street performances – inspired by pieces featured in the exhibition – on April 12 and 13 by Plymouth-based group Effervescent. On April 25, there will also be an academic symposium exploring how scientists and artists are learning from bees, and a reading by award-winning academic and author John Burnside.

For more information on all the events, visit www.peninsula-arts.co.uk