“So work the honey-bees, creatures that by a rule in nature teach the art of order to a peopled kingdom”
William Shakespeare, Henry V (Act 1 Scene 2)

The beehive: one of nature’s most beautiful and sophisticated examples of community working and communication to preserve survival. In a single colony, there are thousands of bees, building their honeycomb to share, protect and nurture.

Each bee plays an important role in the protection of the shared hive. According to studies, honeybees keep each other warm and cool, bathe each other and even share directions to food sources through their communicative ‘waggle dance’.

 Just like the honeybee, as a society we have all been dancing our own dances in effort to survive this incredibly challenging time. The acts of kindness have been overwhelming. Every community has made exceptional efforts, sharing food, donating monies, sponsoring super hero grandpas… and not forgetting the most caring of act of kindness:  respecting social distancing -which for the busy social bees has been the most testing sacrifice for our colony. We are working together on our common goal for survival…. even here in one of greater London’s concrete jungles, where sometimes it can feel like the essence of community has been somewhat lost, recent efforts have been both inspiring and refreshing.

 Living in greater London over the last few years, I usually wake and sleep to the sounds of planes ripping through the sky above and traffic rumbling down the roads, the urban buzz we all learn to live with. It has been refreshing to be able stop, reflect, see, care, and hear the positives that had been muted. We can now stop and listen to nature and each other.

The once buzzing chaos in my brain has turned into a gentle hum.

I’ve been able to rekindle my connection with nature, inspiring my creative practice.

 My lantern will be a representation of the tree hive. I will create clusters of honeycombs with the willow as part of the skeleton for decoration. The paper cut outs will feature theme related symbols. I would like to create a hive that appeals to all – hence the ‘free wifi’ and maybe even a waggle zone!

Aysha became part of the Same Sky team in 2016.