‘The Honey Guide’

The honeyguide bird combines the textures of feather, beeswax, and zebrawood leaf to capture the ways a single species is entangled with other members of their ecosystem. For centuries, the Yao community in Mozambique has relied on the honeyguide to lead them to wild beehives. The honeyguide knows how to find the hives, but has difficulty harvesting the beeswax. Once the Yao have harvested the hives, the bird eats the beeswax left behind by its collaborators. The honeyguide bird is an uncommon example of interspecies collaboration that makes us consider the ways our own behavior affects co-inhabitants of our ecosystems and the planet.

Dimensions/Medium/Year: 40 x 48”, Acrylic and Spray Paint on Canvas, 2021

Price: SOLD