Memoirs of a Beekeeper was commissioned as part of Oak Trees and Fountains a project at Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire curated by Iain Irving and Lorraine Grant. The work was made with the support of Aberdeenshire Council.

Memoirs of a Beekeeper

Memoirs of a Beekeeper is a digital video sound and image installation in the Gardener’s Store of Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire. A single suspended semi-transparent screen and video projector arranged in the manner of a private screening, of home movies and small histories.

In the video, a camera traverses the surface of plants and flowers in intimate detail, navigating the topography of each plant, following the tracks of insect movement on peonies wilting in the mid-morning heat and the gradual evaporation of frost from the surface of reptilian cabbage leaves.

As a cinematic still life the work takes its reference from the paintings of Henri Fantin-Latour, familiar for their depiction of fruits and flowers caught at the moment of spoil, of imminent death, the ripe fig or the full bloom.