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http://www.beehivecollective.org/
I am communicating with these guys to try and get them to our outdoor Mindoutpsyde event this summer.
They tell visual lectures using highly detailed art they have created.
They encourage sustainable living, a fair economy, and honest democracy with their art.
About the Bee Hive Collective Group
The Beehive Collective is a group of people that have joined together all the information they have to create them into images. They say their mission is to cross-pollinate the grassrootsand they are anti-copyright. These images can than be used for educational proposes, and even to address the important issues on environment. Through story telling the group has been able to accomplish making the public more aware of what is going on. They have worked on murals, graphics and making stone mosaics. They have different workshops in buildings up north in Maine. Their posters have been posted over the internet so that anyone can use the same images over again to make a point. Most of their posters don't include humans because they feel that it is easier to talk about a issue using inanimate characters than real people. One of the posters that they created is called Plan Colombia, this poster is based on the policy of Plan Colombia. It depicts different ideas that were extracted from the interviews of different groups that have been directly affected. The group has taken trips to different parts of South America including Colombia and Ecuador. Using all their knowledge the combine them into many different metaphors were used in order to tell what is going on.What is Plan Colombia?
Plan Colombia is what we can call a “Drug War” there were problems between foreign places and the U.S. The relationship of the coca plant in Colombia and the U.S. has angered a lot of people, they are now against Plan Colombia. The reason why it was launched in the first place was to decrease the production of the coca plant. They call it a failure, because even after setting this planâ into motion change wasn't achieved. In reality, there's been a 26% percent increase since 2004. In 2004, there were 114,100 hectares (1 hectare=2.471 acres) of the growth of coca. In 2005, it grew to 144,000 hectares! Sounds like the U.S. is staying true to what they said Plan Colombia was supposed to be. The funny thing about it is, when the plan was first made (2000), it promised that within five years, the production of the coca plant would decrease by half. Five years later, it was estimated that the coca plant covered a total of 136,200 hectares! So these past years, the plan has been spraying chemicals to kill the plant at the source. When it comes down to how much coca is grown, Colombia is producing more and more coca than it was before Plan Colombia even existed. The U.S. and other countries are spending billions of dollars on doing something that's not even working, but instead, is devastating farmers. Instead of wasting money on the planthat isn't working, other countries, especially the United States should spend it on useful things such as homes and food for the unfortunate, or education for those who can't afford one. Spraying the chemicals is unhealthy to the environment making it harder for a farmer to survive. At this point, many farmers are trying to get away from spraying and are moving deep into forests to avoid it all. So, the question is, since the establishment of Plan Colombia, why is the coca plant increasing? Some people think of it as a way for the government to try and kick out the inhabitants of the land.
http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia233.htm
http://www.plancolombia.org/Here is an example of one of their pieces, called Plan Colombia (the picture is normally 6 feet tall, so the level of detail you can see here does not even come close to what this looks like in person):
(so you can get an idea of how detailed this really is)
The Story being told in “Plan Colombia”
The first thing we see looking at the poster is a beehive or a wasp nest representing the country of Europe which later extends itself to the USA. Stretching out of Europe is three of Columbus' ships (The Niña”, “The Pinta” and “The Santa Maria”)Below the nests, we see diverse wasps coming out of United States representing the military tactic planes. The AWAK plane is said to be the “ears of the north”. These planes were used to give back information about what was going on. It is used to communicate with other planes that are in Columbia. The satellite is said to be the “eyes of the north” because it has the capacity to identify the invasion of chemicals taking over the coco plants. Using so much technology would make you think that this extermination would be more accurate but that’s not true. Because of the fumigation planes flying at a high altitude chemicals were spread is was not effective in killing the coco plants. The Bronco plane acts as an indicator for the inhabitants to find undercover since fumigation is to start. The Blackhawk are helicopters are responsible for fumigating the plantations. These planes which were brought from the United States cost around millions of dollars because they contain tremendous power.
Below the planes, we can see two main planes with the logos of Monsanto and Dyn Corp. The Monsanto Corporation has been responsible for the production of chemicals and the manufacturing and switching of DNA. They normally sell weed killers and terminator seeds which only last for one season. The Dyn Plane is a private military corporation that assists the Monsanto. Instead it contaminates other fields such as territories in Ecuador and forces inhabitants to leave their plantation since the chemicals are unhealthy and harmful.
Afterwards, there is the USA and the British mosquito alliance trying to get petroleum, a NESTLE mosquito taking cacao for their coffees, a microscopic mosquito extracting the DNA from coco plants for copyright and a Coca Cola mosquito sucking the water for its own benefits (privatizing the waters). So there are wasps which are the shape of Black Hawk Helicopters, with some type of spray cans. The reason of this is that these wasps represent Crop dusting. They start fumigating fields and this is because the cocoa plant is the one main ingredient in cocaine. So their was many fumigating helicopters (each one costs 10 million dollars) were sent to destroy these fields but more and more cocaine was brought to the USA and that’s why the USA is the main consumer of cocaine.Towards the end you see ants that seem to be creating there own ant hill or “home”. The ants are the people that had already been living there until other countries started to take over (Imperialism). The ants representing the soldiers are fighting the bees, which represent this western influence. With these disagreements come revolts, which are the people's attempts to end their oppression by these stronger foreign powers (bees). With the courage shown by these ants whom are trying to show their disapproval, it is being proven to their fellow people that they are willing to fight for what they believe in. This eventually leads to five hundred years of war.
Western influence is spread towards South America. As different places are being influenced controversy occurs. This is shown through the advertisement of different logos like McDonalds, Coca-cola, Nestle, BP (gas station), things on television, computer technology. These different logos show the western influence that occurred in all different parts of the world.
Once you get to the bottom of the poster there is the ant’s world split in half. One half is showing the more indigenous side while the other half of the world is a representation of westernization. Near the center of the heart there is a word that says Pachakutik. For the poster it also meant “Earth Time”. Instead of actually trying to establish rehabilitation programs for drug-addicts, the U.S.A. has started the “Drug War”.
Metaphors and Representations
Many metaphors used in this poster represent different topics such as imperialism, the western influences and how it has spread to different parts of South America and different parts around the world. This can be seen in the apparent migration of different characters such as bees, ants, and birds to other places. These various characters represent different important aspects or people of the western society, for example the Pope (representing Catholicism), workers, doctors, pilgrims looking for new properties, Spanish conquistadors carrying swords and blankets with small pox to infect the Native Americans, missionaries carrying a bible, soldiers, and a judge that’s bringing western ideas of justice and time and indentured slaves serving as working force.
By using figures like bugs the helped explain about topics that aren’t always easy to talk about. The poster includes different birds and bugs that can only be found in specific regions, it shows how there is diversity between the people that were affected. The poster shows how the US is one of the number one consumers, this is shown through larva. If you look on the top of the poster, there’s an ant holding a cong shell. In the past, these shells were used to call people together as a representation of a new beginning or a ceremony.On the sides of the poster there are many ants with scissors, walking along cutting different graphics of the poster to show what lies underneath, uncovering the truth. The ants basically are coming together in order to create a positive change for their home. In order to do this, they gather the pieces into a pile which later is decomposed and is used as a food source. The group of ants that have gathered small pieces of the “nightmare” in the poster have gathered the pieces and started to compost them. This represents the new hope they have for a new world. Unlike humans the ants have worked together to create what they believe is best for them, they aren't selfish.
The different wasps symbolize characters migrating to the “New World” from England. These WASPS stand for the “White Anglo Saxon Protestants”.The metal bugs drawn in the poster are shown attacking something, like as if they were the army. This shows how the major powers like England headed to different places.
In the USA there is a larva in each state. The larva is a representation of the Americans consuming energy, oil, products, etc. Different larva exemplifies being the # 1 consumer of technology, oil and cocaine. Did you know that one computer chip takes up fourteen-hundred gallons of water? All these natural resources are being taken from foreign places.
To learn more about what different parts of the art piece means metaphorically, go here: http://trcs.wikispaces.com/Beehive+Collective+Plan+Colombia+Poster
