The
Worker Bees
Mural painting,
or public art, is one of the oldest and most important forms of
artistic, political, and social expression. From prehistoric cave
paintings to the frescos of ancient Greece, humanity has demonstrated
that art, in its true essence, is a communal enterprise. Picasso
used the technique in 1937 to express his intense anti-war sentiment
in the masterpiece 'Guernica'. Mural paintings were used to communicate
the political ideals of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and to
promote China's new cultural direction following the 1919 May
Fourth Movement. Among the most famous political muralists of
the 20th century were the Mexican social realist painters, Diego
Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco
who portrayed their vision of social justice in the 1920's through
fresco painting. Presently, a group of activists based in rural
Eastern Maine known as the Beehive Collective have reinvented
this form of visual imagery to create intricate, anti-copyright
murals which communicate the dilemmas of corporate globalization.
What started as a stone mosaic project five years ago evolved
quickly into a multifaceted, decentralized swarm of worker bees
attempting to "cross-pollinate the grassroots." A few
things have set the Beehive Collective apart from other muralists.
First, there are no names attached to the work-their pieces are
the result of extensive collaboration and meant to be used as
self-replicating communication tools. Secondly, their imagery
is absent of human beings. In order to avoid creating racially
biased depictions of cultures, the bees use flora and fauna unique
to the ecosystems that their illustrations represent as analogies
for human activity.
Best known for their "graphics campaigns," or portable
mural tours, the Collective has developed posters that convey
the struggle of those in the "third world" attempting
to survive against the forces of colonialism as well as cultural
and ecological destruction. Rendered with the use of ultra-fine
rapidograph pens, the posters mimic scientific drawings and old-fashioned
clip art. Before ever attempting to depict a certain species,
extensive research is conducted to discover how it contributes
to its local bioregion. Insects such as locusts or wasps are morphed
with modern military apparatus, while blood-sucking mosquitoes
represent corporations drilling for oil. In their "Plan Columbia"
poster, leaf-cutter ants represent the resistance, streaming up
and down the sides of the poster bearing pieces of the "nightmare"
they have been dismantling. It isn't enough for members of the
Collective to rehash secondhand sources, so they have conducted
hours of interviews with farmers and indigenous people in Latin
America to get the story straight.
"The benefit of so-called 'first world' privilege becomes
abundantly clear when you speak with those who are literally fighting
everyday to keep alive their culture and heritage from the onslaught
of corporate globalization," comments one worker bee, "It's
really essential to recognize that the culture which keeps our
privilege afloat wears many different masks, and that one of those
is the racist system which sees no problem in exchanging the cultural
memory and livelihood of entire hemispheres for mono-cropping,
for mono-myths."
Since their
first poster, "Resist Biotechnology," the bees have
been hard at work giving presentations around the Western hemisphere.
These presentations currently consist of either a sixteen-foot
wide banner version of their Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
poster, or a sixteen-foot tall banner version of their Plan Colombia
poster. The banners are accompanied by a six-foot tall projected
"slide show" that has forty enlargements of scenes from
the posters. Presenters take turns narrating through the mural's
details and facts, helping to break down complex issues into smaller,
more digestible chunks. 70-150 presentations are given a year,
many of them in high schools, and to date more than 55,000 posters
have been distributed without being sold in stores.
Currently, the
Collective is hoping finish the third part in their globalization
trilogy, "Mesoamérica Resiste," by the end of
the year. The newest piece will highlight the massive resistance
to Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP), a "development project"
designed to facilitate the exploitation of resources in Mesoamérica
by transnational corporations. To develop this graphic, a swarm
of 10 bees journeyed from Puebla, Mexico to Panamá, gathering
stories of resistance from over 180 groups and individuals. These
dialogues were recorded and will be available as bilingual radio
programs and digital audio archives. The bees still need to raise
$18,000 in order to print the poster, and donations can be made
through their website. When the trilogy is completed, it will
be transformed into a coloring book that teachers will be able
to utilize as curriculum. The Collective is also gathering information
to create a map of the North American food system.
These international
graphic campaigns are only part of what these busy bees have accomplished.
In their regional area, they are also making enormous contributions.
The Collective is constructing a 400-square-foot stone mosaic
out of recycled materials called the "Biodiversity Crossroads
Project." The mosaic, as usual based on the tireless gathering
of personal stories, will take eight years to complete-becoming
a permanent addition to the exhibition hall floor of the Maine
Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association fair-grounds. The project
is meant to have a sense of permanence, perhaps outlasting our
own civilization, relating the evolution of modern agriculture
for generations to come. Classes and instruction in the creation
of stone mosaics are offered, and an artist residency program
is under development.
Even the Beehive
Collective's "hive" is enigmatic of their motives and
activism. In 2001 the bees began the refurbishing of the Machias
Valley Grange, which was constructed in 1904 as a cultural organizing
center for farmers involved in a movement called the "Patrons
of Husbandry." An outgrowth of the Populist movement, the
Patrons-also known as the Grange-began as an attempt to hold off
the pressures of corporate monopolies and to keep agriculture
local. In the early 1900's there were over 400 Grange Halls in
Maine alone, and unlike other society halls, the Granges sought
to include women and the youth in their decision making process.
Today the Grange, thanks to the entirely volunteer efforts of
the Collective, has been restored to an active community center-hosting
free weekly open-mics, concerts, dances, public internet access,
films and discussion groups. This August marked the hall's Centennial
celebration.
The efforts
of this unique artist collective mirror the style of its work.
Meticulous, strategically organized, and self-replicating, the
Beehive Collective is doing much more than simply educating the
public about globalization and agriculture practices. They are
attacking our very notion of modern art by ditching the typical
sort of hyper-individualism, and bringing the craft back to its
roots as a community activity. Their murals and mosaics have removed
ego from the creation process, instead utilizing the medium as
a pure insight into the nature of societal issues. Art and politics,
as they have been throughout history, are intrinsically and inseparably
entwined. Realizing this, the bees are building a cultural legacy
through the muralist tradition with the ability to replace the
myths fostered in a generation raised by television. This is human
expression at its finest.
Written
By Jason Glover
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