Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

I don’t like being called a street artist. I hate that phrase. In fact, it’s stereotypes in general I have serious issues with. I try to help people break these down in my work, both in what I paint and where I paint it.

I recently asked myself, why would busy people care about something that doesn’t affect them on a day-to-day basis? In Britain there is a tendency to associate conservation with Zoology. The language used can turn people off. I wanted to go and do a bunch of pieces in one day on Brick Lane, illegal pieces, so they need to be completed quite fast.

The ‘Save the Bees’ family day came about in some ways just to have some sort of deadline, I think. So Jim Vision and I decided we would have murals done and spread the message in this way to help attract people. On that day we were going to celebrate the fact that we had painted all those pieces and we were going to collect together a bunch of people whose livelihoods depend on bees. There are so many products out there for which bees are essential and it was great to have people like Hiver beer, Dead Gents clothing and Inkkas to broaden peoples’ horizons.

We also provided a platform where we could hand out all of the wildflower seeds we got from Thompson and Morgans, which meant that a large number of people were walking away with bags of seeds in their hands to plant and make a real difference, no matter how small, to providing a better environment for bees to flourish.

Batteries Not Included is a free exhibition from Louis Masai and runs from 30th April to 29th May at Lollipop Gallery in Shoreditch, London.

More info: louismasai.com

My work with the Save the Bees campaign was born of a desire to increase awareness about an impending environmental crisis

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-19

We held the Save the Bees family day to inspire people

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

We found out that people have a genuine concern for their native animals

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-8

I think there’s a disconnection in British peoples’ minds about their own living environment and the idea of extinction

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

But I don’t think it’s just the UK, I think that it’s urbanized countries

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

Although we have countryside here, it is heavily farmed

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-11

When countries have populations of people piled on top of each other, people care less about what lies beyond

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-9

It’s been really nice to see the Save the Bees aesthetic moved from outside, public spaces to inside, private environments

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-12

street-art-save-the-bees-louis-masai-10

Bees are just a small part of the show, the focus will be on a much bigger range of endangered species

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

What do you think ?

POST

monalh 9 years ago

these guys are Great, thank you for stepping forward to help all of man kind to see what are some very Important issues !! Paintings,Great!

2points

EnidMitchell 8 years ago

Brilliant art work and such an important message to get across to people. Bees are threatened on so many levels, from habitat loss, to pollution, to the invasion of aggressive species being brought over on the wind from the continent. We should be planting native wild flowers in every nook and cranny we can find,

0points

GeorginaBurns 9 years ago

Me encanta!

Load More Comments

Save The Bees: I Painted London Streets With Bee Murals To Raise Awareness About Colony Collapse Disorder

My work with the Save the Bees campaign was born of a desire to increase awareness about an impending environmental crisis

We held the Save the Bees family day to inspire people

We found out that people have a genuine concern for their native animals

I think there’s a disconnection in British peoples’ minds about their own living environment and the idea of extinction

But I don’t think it’s just the UK, I think that it’s urbanized countries

Although we have countryside here, it is heavily farmed

When countries have populations of people piled on top of each other, people care less about what lies beyond

It’s been really nice to see the Save the Bees aesthetic moved from outside, public spaces to inside, private environments

Bees are just a small part of the show, the focus will be on a much bigger range of endangered species

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