Artist Statement:
What we have, we owe to bees. Among the most prolific pollinators on the planet, bees helped create and maintain the biodiverse ecosystems that made it possible for humanity to take root and grow. Over millions of years, our shared evolution has grown increasingly intertwined. And today, human activity is impacting wild and domesticated bee populations in unprecedented ways. Due to the integral role bees play in supporting the ecosystems we depend on, this ongoing relationship affects us all: bee, human, and otherwise.
Admittedly, I hadn’t always understood or appreciated the inherent interdependence between people and bees. In fact, I was terrified of them as a boy. But what was once an irrational fear of bees has since transformed into an existential fear for bees—and, by extension, for the ecologies we all share. And now I wonder: if we look closer at our relationships with these magnificent pollinators, what might we learn about our responsibilities to all other-than-human beings?
To help imagine new ways to address our unfolding ecological crises, Telling of the Bees explores the ethical and ecological relationships between people and bees through photography and fragrance. More specifically, this evolving body of work considers the opportunities and implications of these interspecies interactions as they manifest across industry, agriculture, ecological research, environmental conservation, human healthcare, bioengineering, and spirituality.
In my cultural lineage reaching back to the British Isles, Ireland, and Western Europe, it was once common for people to inform their beehives of important developments in their household, such as births, deaths, and marriages. This idea is two-fold. Firstly, bees were seen part of the family; to keep them in the dark about the various goings-on in the home is just plain rude. Secondly, bees were seen as psychopomps, meaning they are able to traverse the veil separating the living from the dead and carry messages between those worlds. By telling the bees our news, they could then relay our dispatches to our departed ancestors as well. Named in honor of this beautiful and lingering tradition of “Telling the Bees”, this exhibition and broader body of work seeks to expand these interspecies dialogues to actively invite and imagine what the bees may tell—or ask of—us.
Jack Eshelman
Jake Eshelman, Honey Bee with Poppy
Jake Eshelman, An Offering
Jake Eshelman, Identifying Bee Specimens.
Jake Eshelman (b. 1989, USA) is a photo-based artist and visual researcher exploring the complex relationships between people, our environment, and everyone we share it with.
Working to transcend the notion that humanity is somehow separate from—or superior to—the natural world, his work creates opportunities to address anthropocentrism and (re)consider our ecological kinships.
Eshelman has exhibited work internationally, most notably at Vantaa Art Museum Artsi in Helsinki, Finland; Contemporary Calgary in Alberta, Canada; Houston Center for Photography in Houston, TX; The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge University, UK; Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI; The Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, OH; The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington D.C.; Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool, UK. His work is in the permanent collections at Harvard University and the Chicago Design Museum.
His photographs have been included in independently published photo books, collaborative artist books, and even a children’s book by Simon & Schuster encouraging aspiring creatives to pursue artistic careers. He has also been featured in numerous publications including National Geographic, Texas Monthly, The World Sensorium/Conservancy, Trouvé Magazine, and Then There Was Us, among others. He is a recent recipient of the city’s Initiative Grant administered by Houston Arts Alliance, as well as the Idea Fund individual artist grant funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and administered by DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show, and Project Row Houses.
Complementing his creative practice, Eshelman is also a writer and emerging scholar. In addition to his recent publications through the Sophia Centre Press and the University of Reading, Jake also serves as the Contributing Editor of Ecological Thinking with Plantings Journal. Beyond the written word, he thoroughly enjoys conversing and lecturing about the issues he explores in his work as well as the value and validity of artistic research practices. To date, he has lectured at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Wales Trinity Saint David, University of Houston, and other conferences, symposia, and gatherings beyond academia.
In 2025, Eshelman obtained his MA in Ecology & Spirituality from The University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, where he has undertaken the first study of its kind exploring the beliefs, rites, and experiences of beekeepers who nurture spiritual relationships with bees. He holds a BA in Classical Literature, with a concentration in mythology, hermeneutics, and reception theory from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, as well a minor in Studio Art and Art History. Jake is also a member of The Fairy Investigation Society. He is currently based in Houston, TX, but conducts his academic and artistic research internationally.