Foretoken Courtney Ferrara
Acknowledgments The poetry used in these images is adapted from Six Bee Poems by Jo Shapcott, 2011
Front Image Remains Digital print 14 Ă— 20.5 inches
Š 2017 All images photographed and edited by Courtney Ferrara
Omen
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Artist Statement Bees are intimidating. They can sting, and swarm, and that’s all I needed to know to fear them. In learning that several species of bees have been added to the endangered species list, my attitudes have changed. Bees are vital to the world’s delicate ecosystem, and ultimately human existence. Symbolically, they represent strength, healing, and community; traits that are reminiscent of humanity itself. Nature is often depicted as a distinct feminine entity, in control of the fate of humanity. This power is embodied through the bees. Without them the natural ecosystem becomes vulnerable. Through photographs and books I highlight the tension nature manifests between strength and vulnerability, as well as reference the connection between nature and the feminine figure. It is a personal struggle to use my own, female body in photographs. Finding this connection with the strength of nature has helped me begin to overcome internal insecurities and anxieties concerning my body, both conquering and allowing feelings of vulnerability.
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Creep
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Sections Body 8 Hive
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Death 28 Woman 32 Desolate
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In and Out
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Pollen Dusted
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Drip
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Gestural
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Tastes Sweet
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Twitch
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Off in the Distance
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Wounded
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Waste
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Ooze
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Home Sweet Home
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Sinew
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Capped Off
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Crusted in Sugar
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Cavernous
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Widening Field
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Delicate
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Propolis
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Sunlight
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Change in the Weather
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Bodies
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Deteriorate
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They Pile Up
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Goner
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Weeping
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Hexagonal
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In My Hair
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Zig-Zags, Runs and Circles
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Open Synapses
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Resilience
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Brittle
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Spindle
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Pricker
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Cradle
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Husk
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Criss Crossed
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Grey
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Sting
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List of Works Omen Digital photograph 6 × 8.25 inches
Cavernous Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Brittle Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Creep Digital photograph 6 × 8.25 inches
Widening Field Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Spindle Digital print 7 × 10 inches
In and Out Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Delicate Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Pricker Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Pollen Dusted Digital photograph 7 × 10 inches
Propolis Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Cradle Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Drip Digital photograph 7 × 10 inches
Sunlight Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Husk Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Gestural Digital photograph 7 × 10 inches
Change in the Weather Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Criss Crossed Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Tastes Sweet Digital photograph 30 × 44 inches
Bodies Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Grey Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Twitch Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Deteriorate Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Sting Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Off in the Distance Digital photograph 7 × 10 inches
They Pile Up Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Wounded Digital photograph 30 × 44 inches
Goner Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Waste Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Weeping Digital print 30 × 44 inches
Ooze Digital photograph 7 × 10 inches
Hexagonal Digital print 14 × 20.5 inches
Home Sweet Home Digital print 7 × 10 inches
In My Hair Digital print 30 × 44 inches
Sinew Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Zig-Zags, Runs and Circles Digital print 30 × 44 inches
Capped Off Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Open Synapses Digital print 14 × 20.5 inches
Crusted in Sugar Digital print 7 × 10 inches
Resilience Digital print 30 × 44 inches
The Sting When the wild queen leads the swarm into the room, don’t shut the door on them, don’t leave them crawling the walls, furniture and books, a decor of moving fuzz. Don’t go offto the city, alone, to work, to travel underground. The sting is no more apis mellifera, is a life without honey bees, without an earful of buzz an eyeful of yellow. The sting is no twin waving antennae breaking through the cap of a hatching bee’s cell. The sting is no more feral hive humming in the stone wall of the house, no smell of honey as you brush by. No bees will follow, not one, and there lies the sting. The sting is no sting
- Jo Shapcott