Medium: oil, acrylic, collage, beehive paneling

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Narrative

Dr. Jennifer Leavey is the Director of the Georgia Tech Urban Honeybee Project, an interdisciplinary research program focused on the impact of urban habitats on honey bees. The beehives are housed in the rooftop garden of the newly constructed Kendeda Building where Dr. Leavey also teaches VIP classes on sustainability. As we toured the building, she explained how it was designed to satisfy the Living Building Challenge. This means that the Kendeda Building is a self-sustaining built environment that generates more energy and water than it consumes. This struck a connection to how bees maintain thermoregulation and homeostasis within the hive, and we realized there is a more intricate relationship between the Kendeda Building and the bee project on its roof.

 

A honeybee’s agenda is simple; to reproduce, grow, and sustain their hive until the next season. As humans taking on the Living Building Challenge, our agenda extends beyond next season by training future generations to think sustainably. That is how we decided to illustrate beehives as a micro-representation of the Kendeda Building in this piece.

 

The Living Building Challenge revolves around 7 “Petals”: Space, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty. I tried to keep these in mind when creating this piece and drawing connection between the Kendeda Building and the Honeybee Project. For example, a bee’s agenda includes creating a certain “Bee Space” within the colony, which relates to the petal of “Place.” To satisfy this petal, the Kendeda Building has to be a bridge between the boundaries of human environment and natural environment. Likewise, one of the most important concepts in my art is creating a sense of space and drawing the audience into the piece, even though I am bounded by the limits of my canvas. Considering “Materials”, the Kendeda Building had to eliminate waste during construction and use products that are safe for all species, such as salvaged materials and responsibly sourced wood and stone. Trying to be conscious of sustainability and materials, I repurposed leftover beehive panelling as my canvas.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and reinforced in the ideas the Living Building Challenge stands for. There is harmony in the space of this piece, but there is also a sense of tension with giant bees superimposed on the Kendeda Building. The GT Urban Honeybee Project illustrates work being done to incorporate bees into sustainable food systems and how urbanization affects bees. The underlying takeaway from this project is a reminder that we are trying to sustain a future that ensures health, happiness, and equity for all species. How can we design a future in which the relationships between humans and nature are mutually supportive? Perhaps we should look to the bees.