Shiqi Zhao

A Bee’s Journey is an immersive exhibition designed for children aged 5-10 where they can experience the world from the perspective of a bee at the Jerwood Gallery in The Natural History Museum. As vital pollinators, bees pollinate over 70 percent of the food we eat, yet they are increasingly under threat from climate breakdown, habitat loss, and pesticide use. By stepping into the world from a bee’s perspective, children gain an understanding of the challenges bees face and their essential role in sustaining life on Earth. 

The exhibition consists of five zones: Welcome Zone: Becoming a Bee, Beehive Zone: Bee Architect, Ecosystem Zone: Pollination Network, Bee Biodiversity Zone: Waggle Dance Challenge, and Humans & Bees Zone: A Shared Future. Children can dress up in bee costumes, listen to the sound of bees, build beehives, pollinate flowers and interact with each other by waggle dancing. Through light and projection, interactive games and displays, children will gain a first-hand understanding by way of embodied experience which is used as a tool to create empathy. The exhibition will empower children to affect change by learning about ways to protect bees and restore biodiversity. 

Collaborators

Claire Healy, Project Mentor 

Shanshan Liu, Graphic Design Advisor  

Eleonora Ortolani, Video Production Advisor