The Pollinators
These bees, moths, bats, butterflies, wasps, and midges are the real essential workers to take care of pollinating all sort of fruit-bearing plants. Without them no pollinating and no fruits. Give a warm welcome to these frontline workers and true heroes.
That’s why the topic is important to me
The bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) kills worker honeybees that have left the hive to search for food. They simply don't come back. Between 1947 and 2005, the number of honeybees in the United States declined by over 40 percent, from 5.9 million to 2.4 million colonies.
In my topic, Pollinators, I explore the phenomenon of the mysterious vanishing of the bees as much as the loss of diversity among pollinating insects, in general. Pollinators play an important role on our blue planet; they are responsible for a rich, diverse food choice.
Without bees, our diets will look depressingly poor in the future. We will be forced to survive on wind-pollinated crops: wheat, barley, and corn. Imagine grocery shops without raspberries, apples, strawberries, pears, peas, beans, melons, tomatoes, blueberries, pumpkins, and much more.
Fact is, worldwide, pollinators are declining mainly due to excessive agricultural chemicals, intensive farming practices, mono-cropping, exposure to parasites and pesticides, loss of floral diversity due to the loss of habitat. Therefore we better take a closer look at our given creatures and appreciate that they have provided free pollination for our crops for millennia.
What started as a yearlong examination of honey bees and The Colony Collapse Disorder led to a compilation of insects, emphasizing those that play a role in the pollination ecosystem. In my work, I introduce 30 pollinators on 8 x10 inches large wood panels. There are honey bees and singular bees, bumblebees, wasps, hummingbirds, bats, butterflies, moths, and even flies.
The shadowbox-like configuration strikes in its' edgy appearance. The colors are too neon for a realistic depiction and too playful to match an entomologists' collection of dead insects. Juxtaposing colors of back-and foreground create a vibrant feel of energy.