Esther Traugot’s piece “Huddle 2 (Workers)” — which showed in 2016 as part of a three-artist exhibition called “Excerpts From the Natural World” — has me thinking about all sorts of big issues like colony collapse disorder (all the bees see here were found dead), the future of bees and how that relates to global food security, how death becomes art, and more practically, how did she even do that?
Huddle 2 (Workers) by Esther Traugot – real bees bandaged in crochet sleeves
The artist on her own work, excerpted from the East Bay Express, “I think that at face value I’m picking up these objects and kind of caring for them, and the crochet wrappings are blankets or some kind of support,” Traugot said. But, she continued, in the larger scheme of things, her actions are futile and self-indulgent — indicative of the way that humans tend to separate themselves from “Nature” arbitrarily. “As bandage or cozy, these support structures investigate the relationship between nurturing and controlling nature,” reads her artist statement. “My interest in the objects extends from the notion of landscape and how we not only experience, but also negotiate with the natural world.”
See more images of Esther Traugot’s amazing and incredibly delicate work, plus get more details on the show: Chandra Cerrito Contemporary – I wish I were visiting California this summer.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Artist and Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland
