Empathetic Ethnography is the culminating exhibition outcome of this research project. The exhibition title, Empathetic Ethnography, draws upon the key multispecies ethnographic research approach undertaken in this project, whilst also foregrounding the artwork’s intentions to celebrate a sense of empathetic kinship with other-than-humans. Comprising beeswax sculpture, video projection, soundscapes and installation, this exhibition showcases four final artworks which highlight these artist-honeybee collaborations.
This practice-led, visual arts research, foregrounded by todays’ ecological crises, engages the conceptual separation of humans from the biophysical life systems upon which they depend. The study is framed by a multispecies ethnography that recognises and values the agency of other-than-human species – leading to the production of ephemeral artworks in close collaboration with European honeybees. The resulting co-creative works model eco-centric approaches to artmaking that practically and conceptually break down the distinctions between our human selves and the more-than-human world. The study therefore interrogates how novel modes of artistic collaboration between artists, ecological experts, and more-than-humans might be engaged in ways that encourage empathy for bees, and by extension, other non-humans.
The study and its exhibition outcomes therefore together ask, how can multispecies frameworks be created for artists seeking to develop respectful and impactful art experiences in collaboration with more-than-human agents?
Opening event: Sunday 23rd October 6:30-8pm
Exhibition open (8am-5pm daily)
