As a Matter of (f) Act (2024 - ongoing) is an image-text-based work in progress. The Queen Must Die is the first edition in the ongoing As a Matter of (f) Act series, with further editions to follow.
Each edition of As a Matter of (f) Act focuses on an event in which a simple human gesture follows the laws of nature rather than opposing them, ultimately seeking to bend them to human advantage. The photographic images document these events through an aesthetic approach that emphasizes the romanticized narrative between humans and nature, as well as the conventions of the photographic medium itself. The text, on the other hand, takes the form of a dense stream of fact and fiction, stripped of punctuation and vocally activated through a lyrical cadence of intonation. Seeking to deconstruct the romanticized interpretations of reality often attributed to photography, the text expands into free associations that resonate with broader sociopolitical discourses.
The first edition, The Queen Must Die, highlights the gesture of a beekeeper capturing a wild bee colony by relocating its queen. By using smoke to influence the colony's defensive responses and moving the queen to a hive under his control, the beekeeper draws on the bees' loyalty to their queen to introduce the colony into his apiary for honey production.
The text accompanying the photographic images draws on the specialized knowledge and vocabulary of apiology, while its particular construction invites free associations with broader sociopolitical discourses surrounding postcolonialism, matriarchal societies, illusory hierarchies, and instrumental rationality.
As a Matter of (f) Act, The Queen Must Die unfolds through a spatial installation, book publications, and vocal performance
