Aganetha Dyck’s work involves honeycombs and broken or damaged materials from thrift stores. She strategically “adds wax or honey, propolis or hand-made honeycomb patterns to the objects prior to placing them into their hives.”
Dyck is an interdisciplinary artist whose career extends to almost four decades. She possesses a vast body of work that is diverse and rich in visual elements, concept, and technique. Her current research and artistic work “ask questions about the ramification all living beings would experience should honeybees disappear from earth.” More specifically, the Canadian artist is interested in inter-species communication- specially the dialogue that exists between her and the bees she works with.
“At times, the honeybees encourage me to add or delete honeycomb after they have worked on an object. As an example, by overextending their honeycomb, the honeybees encourage me to sculpt into this mass of waxed cell construction and return it to them for further consideration”
Aganetha Dyck makes it clear that she does not handle the bees as she is not a professional beekeeper. She rents colonies of honeybees, and a beehive space from a qualified beekeeper; her work is also supervised by scientists.
