Tuesday 30 April 2024

Dead bees?! A Thousand Tiny Deaths

 I really want to collect dead bumblebees and put them in little vials. I feel a strange sense of sorrow and outrage when I seem them - I guess because they are such gentle creatures that hurt nobody. I know everything has to die... I want to call it "A hundred tiny deaths". I really wanted to call it "A Thousand Tiny Deaths", but that's a shit tonne of dead bees...

I was reflecting on where this 'sudden' idea came from, but it has a bunch of precedent on reflection - it's connected to 'Secrets' = things in vials and to the (as yet unnamed) dead foxes (celebrating 'small' deaths), it also probably has a nod to 'Awkward Thoughts" since that incorporates an insect as a representation of life and death.

I think the idea is not actually 'ready', but I'm starting to do my usual buzzing (ha) around looking at what it would take... Even if I collect a few bees (to everyone's disgust no doubt), I think it will almost certainly evolve. Although it can be 'read' in a few ways, the 'meaning' is clearly (for me) about the futility of life and the sad unremarkable-ness of death... Millions of bees die ever day, millions of people die every day... Hmmm, I wonder how many people die ever day? About 150 000, according to Wikipedia. It COULD be interesting to use this number, although I suspect 150000 would occupy most of a room in my house (and take 410 years to collect if I find one a day, every day...). That's a lot of dead bees, let alone dead humans. Maybe every second? Ok, only 2... Every minute? 106... Interesting. Already this could be evolving... I wonder what other interesting stats are out there...

Would people think I killed the bees myself? God, I hope not... People are weird though.

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