teardrops of Ra

The cropped images of honeycomb are of a frame
removed from a hive. Honeycomb, the source of
life for growing pupae, is the storage unit for honey,
a source of nutrition that ensures the continued
survival of the hive. A hypnotic example of sacred
geometry in nature, honeycomb and beeswax
have been used by humans for centuries. My
images celebrate the magnification of something
seen and familiar, but perhaps unobserved, its
beauty remaining unappreciated. These images
are featured in the multimedia installation and the
multimedia artwork, images of the intimate world
of bees reproduced on manmade materials.
20 21
Fig 17. Kirsty Swanepoel, Vestiges of the Storm. Detail (2021).
The multimedia installation consists of framed
images of honeycomb printed on clear vinyl
and placed on plexiglass and projected. The
free-standing pine frames are based on the
design of the Langstroth hive. 1 The images
1 Patented by Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth
in 1853, this design enables frames to be removed, honey
extracted and then returned to the hive with honeycomb
intact. Bees are able to re-use honeycomb, a time and
energy saving measure. The Langstroth frames remain the
most popular frames in use today (National Inventors
Hall of Fame).
have been printed on vinyl, creating a ghostly
effect reminiscent of the past, memory and
disappearance. When the artworks are illuminated,
a shadow-image is projected on the floor. The
frames are scattered throughout the gallery space,
creating an organic path that meanders.
The multimedia artwork consists of a landscape
of honeycomb images stitched together and
populated with flowers made from deconstructed
optical fibre cable and plastic flower garlands. I
have incorporated natural honeycomb, as well as
plastic sheets of honeycomb used by beekeepers
as a foundation to assist bees in the creation of
honeycomb. This artwork comments on the
relationship between science and nature, artifice
and reality. For all our technological advances,
humans cannot re-create the natural world.
Overleaf 22 & 23:
Fig 18. Kirsty Swanepoel, Vestiges of the Storm. Installation view (2021).
Fig 19. Kirsty Swanepoel, Vestiges of the Storm. Installation view (2021).