teardrops of Ra

INTRODUCTION
The Teardrops of Ra (2021) exhibition is inspired by the veneration of bees in mythology and
art through the ages. Egyptian mythology asserts that when the tears of the Sun-God Ra
fell to earth, they turned into bees. Having originated from Ra’s teardrops, bees, honey and
beeswax were considered to be part of Ra, and thus sacred. The Egyptians made offerings of
honey to various deities and the dead. Bee mythology was not limited to Egypt, however. The
|Xam creation myth, Ancient Greek mythology and the Hindu Goddess of Love, Parvati, who
vanquished the demon Anurasura and saved the universe by emitting a stream of black, stinging
bees from her body … The narratives of humans and bees is intertwined in history, mythology
and art.
Bee muralist, Matthew Wiley says that honeybees think collectively and share a collective
immune system, whereby the health of a bee is based on its population of usually 50,000 (Wiley
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in Martin 2016). This connectivity is something that we humans seem tragically incapable of,
since our planet faces the Sixth Extinction. My work investigates the importance of these little
insects to human survival, celebrating their beauty and bounty as human lessons.
IFC: Fig 1. Kirsty Swanepoel, Vestiges of the Storm. Detail (2021).
Page 2: Fig 2. Kirsty Swanepoel, For the Love of Paris Green. Detail (2021).
Page 3: Fig 3. Kirsty Swanepoel, For the Love of Paris Green. Detail (2021).
Page 4: Fig 4. Kirsty Swanepoel, For the Love of Paris Green. Detail (2021).
Page 5: Fig 5. Kirsty Swanepoel, For the Love of Paris Green. Detail (2021).
Page 6: Fig 6. Kirsty Swanepoel, Vestiges of the Storm. Detail (2021).
Page 8: Fig 7. Kirsty Swanepoel, For the Love of Paris Green. Installation view (2021).