At the beginning, there was a story. This story talks about a beekeeper from Dúbravica village in central Slovakia who has built a bee house in a form of a spaceship to fly with his bees to the Mirror Land. A planet, similar to ours, hidden behind the Sun, unspoiled. Although hard to believe, this spaceship DBSP 01 (Dúbravica Beekeeper's Space Program) exists - open to visitors in the center of the village. And a man in a spacesuit with a portable beehive on his back was also spotted there.
Mirror Land gives a frame to larger series of works documenting the story. Maybe a last ode to escapism but the escapism with a purpose. Or an ode to the work of beekeepers, those who share a bond with their bees - although "stealing" their honey, they protect and care for the families. To understand bees, their behavior, one needs to be calm, patient and open minded. Beekeeping has been here for centuries, yet the character of the work hasn't changed so much - using simple, natural tools and materials. There is a hidden poetry in this work and here is an attempt to reconstruct it.
Today, bees, one of the key element of our ecosystem are also one of the most vulnerable. The changes in agriculture, global warming and spread of illnesses threaten their existence. And ours - they are the best pollinators nature has. So it is not by an accident that from all what he could save, The Man who travels with Bees picks up these little animals. Exhibition in Gandy gallery, Bratislava 2016, Photos credit: Adam Šakový, Courtesy Gandy gallery
