Missouri Beekeepers deserve some attention and respect. I finally found a way to combine three of my loves: writing, photography, and beekeeping. I am announcing “Hive Minded,” my new fine art photography exhibit and book project focused on the work, dedication and activities of Missouri Beekeepers. This is a long-term photography project inspired as much by Missouri Beekeepers as it is by author James Joyce’s statement, “In the particular is contained the universal.”
For Hive Minded, the particular will be Missouri Beekeepers and how they practice the art, science, and husbandry of apiculture. The work that Missouri “Beeks” perform is the same throughout the world. I’m reminded of the three hives on the roof of the sacristy of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. They survived the devastating fire last year.
I’m reminded, too, of 2019 Academy Award documentary nominee Honeyland about the work of Hatidze, a rural beekeeper in the mountains of Macedonia. She practices a near-forgotten type of beekeeping that includes foraging in nearby forests, mountains, and even crevices in abandoned buildings in her village. Her bee yard consists of skeps rather than the wooden box hives used by the rest of us.
But the basics of her beekeeping are identical to those found throughout Missouri and the rest of the world. She understands the lifecycle of bees, the influence of the local environment, and the importance of maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
Hive Minded will be a photographic documentary of the way we Missourians “do” beekeeping. I am currently actively seeking Missouri Beekeepers to photograph for this project. I want to meet and photograph ALL Missouri Beekeepers, regardless of gender, age, location or skill level. There is no such thing as an “average” beekeeper, so I am open to working with practically anyone, anywhere in the state. If you’ve got a unique story about your beekeeping, even better.
The first step in the project is photographing beekeepers as they work with their bees. There are no costs involved for participants. In fact, participants will receive a print made by me in my traditional darkroom and be allowed access to use the images I make for their own purposes, whether private or commercial (with credit, of course)
When I have built up the portfolio of images, I will create an exhibition that will be available to galleries, museums, and other venues. Concurrently, I will be creating the Hive Minded book with curated and select images for publication.
This is a labor of love. I am pursuing this project and funding it initially by myself. It is not a “for profit” endeavor. I will make the photographs primarily using traditional analogue equipment on silver gelatin film. During each session, I will employ a variety of cameras in multiple formats: 35mm, 120, and 4x5 large format. I will use a mix of black and white and color film.
For reference, when I shoot color 4x5 negatives, each shot costs several dollars, plus another $20 to process and scan. I’m willing to make this sort of investment because I want to promote importance of beekeeping – more important today than ever. I will initially pay for the costs associated with Hive Minded, including travel, film, equipment, processing, etc. out of my own pocket. I hope to solicit additional support from artistic grants and other type of funding, including a Kickstarter-type fundraiser for the book.
If you are a Missouri beekeeper and would like me to visit you and your hives, please contact me at 314.973.0239 or email me at cbadams@qwerkyphotography.com. I will keep information updated on this blog, Freaks and Beeks, on my website: www.qwerkyphotography under the “Language” section. If you know of someone, please refer them to me.
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I built my first Warre’ hives several years ago with my father.
CB Adams, MFA, is a writer and fine art photographer living in the St. Louis region. He received two of the Missouri Arts Council’s highest writing awards, the Missouri Writers’ Biennial Award in 1995 and the Missouri Writing! Award in 1985.
Adams’s photographs have been exhibited more than 30 shows, including most recently: A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY, Lightbox Gallery, Astoria OR, Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, Art Saint Louis, St. Louis Arists Guild, and Columbia (MO) Art League.
The independent weekly newspaper St. Louis Riverfront Times named Adams “St. Louis’ Most Under-Appreciated Writer.” His short fiction has been published in more than a dozen literary journals, Zoetrope All-Story Extra, River Styx (twice), Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies, Thoughtful Dog, bluntly, The Distillery, Artistic Spirits of the South, and elsewhere. He has published more than 2,000 nonfiction articles in local, regional and national publications. He is a former reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.