Sweets Bees

The Sweets Bees are my visual response to the Creative Labs project. They are also a playful work that is almost edible. In Creative Labs we explored the potential catalyst for creative knowledge transfer, within the setting of partnership projects. During one of our ‘Aha’ moments, I realised the ‘territorial’ reaction that often exists in these projects, while each partner weighs their own professional knowledge more than other partners’. Further into the research, the bitter-sweet complexity of partnerships became more clarified. The difficulties in establishing a shared vision and in satisfying different needs can often counter-balance the benefits of partnership working.

The ‘territorial’ and ‘bitter-sweet’ elements struck me as I too struggle in this process. I decided to use them as a starting point and make a visual metaphor for them. I went online surfing and visited Pound shops for inspiration. The colourful sweets drew my attention immediately: so beautiful, full of temptations yet not great for health. Then one day the bees came to mind: they work hard, produce honey, and often defend their territory by giving any invader a painful sting. As a result they sacrifice their own lives. They seem to have a lot in common with hard-working partners. I started to bring the sweets, the bees and the partners together to make these playful creatures. Partnerships are hard enough to manage, with this visual metaphor, at least we can have a smile and some fun.

RECIPES

Two mannequins
Some chicken wire
A lot of tin foil
A lot of glue
Many Mini Candy Bananas
One kilogram of Lemon Crystals (flavoured and coloured sugar)
One kilogram of Westheads Coal Dust (coloured sugar)
Four Mega Lolly Banana Splits
A lot of Fini Dyna Stix Liquorice
Many Haribo Liquorice Rotella Wheels
A door alarm
Some clothes and sweets jewellery
And many days sitting and sticking
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