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Telling the Bees

Sophie Viet-Jacobsen

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London-based Art Director, Graphic Designer, and Creative with a deep interest in the intersections of art, design, and urban planning. Experienced in brand leadership and management and creative production, I am talented at building digital campaigns, publications, and events by combining visual strength with strategic clarity. I frequently design and lead creative workshops, intended to help develop a connection with our ‘messy’ creative selves. Other interests include drawing, writing, and ceramics.

London-based Art Director, Graphic Designer, and Creative with a deep interest in the intersectio...

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Telling the Bees is a project inspired by the little-known ritual of “telling the bees”. The custom, still practised in the UK by beekeepers, rooted in Celtic and rural British folklore, involves the ritual communication of significant household events (usually deaths, but also marriages or births) to the bees in one’s care. The hive is wrapped with a black ribbon, and a verse is spoken, carrying the news. The project is expressed in three parts, a short film, a sculpture and a book.

Final work

Beeswax sculpture in panel shape

Container, 2025. Recycled beeswax, wool, leaves, soil, in found aluminium frame.

The sculpture is made from beeswax, chosen for its natural connection to labour, ecology, and transformation. It holds the land where the film was made, linking material and place. The wax was sourced from beekeepers in Devon, Oxfordshire, Wales, and London.

Printed matter, postcards, spread, bookmarks.

Telling the Bees.

Alongside the sculpture, a book explores the topics of grief, ritual and ecology. Five writers were commissioned to respond to the intersection of these topics in the form of poetry, prose or essays.

Telling the Bees Trailer

Telling the Bees Trailer

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Telling the Bees

Telling the Bees is a project inspired by the little-known ritual of “telling the bees”. The custom, still practised in the UK by beekeepers, rooted in Celtic and rural British folklore, involves the ritual communication of significant household events (usually deaths, b...

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