Irving Penn - Bee On Lips, New York (1995)
Portraits of Bees
2013
Sam Droege
“Bees are the smallest of birds. They are born from the bodies of oxen, or from the decaying flesh of slaughtered calves; worms form in the flesh and then turn into bees. Bees live in community, choose the most noble among them as king, have wars, and make honey. Their laws are based on custom, but the king does not enforce the law; rather the lawbreakers punish themselves by stinging themselves to death. Bees are afraid of smoke and are excited by noise. Each has its own duty: guarding the food supply, watching for rain, collecting dew to make honey, and making wax from flowers.”
bees are the smallest of birds. bees are the smallest of birds
it starts off adorable, then gross, then turns into an idealized copy of the governmental systems of the day, and along the way it gets every possible thing wrong. god bless medieval bestiaries
