Until blood becomes pollen

*Until Blood Becomes Pollen* presents a large-scale sculptural installation based on the observation of two biological phenomena: viral infection and the behavior of honeybee colonies as they build their honeycombs. In both cases, the transformative power of matter lies in the collective action of individuals—whether in the body infected by the virus and its replication, or in the honeycomb, as the structure that supports the hive.

Santiago Lemus

He lives in Bogotá and holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the National University of Colombia. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Conservation and Use of Biodiversity at the Pontifical Xavierian University, where he also teaches. His work explores the relationship between art, nature, and landscape, focusing on biological and ecological processes across various disciplines to create sculptures, installations, and other artistic formats.​

Until Blood Becomes Pollen

​Earth, honey, and wax, along with elements from the pharmaceutical industry, are the materials the artist uses to allude to one of the forces of sculpture. Seriality is presented as a vital force that continually creates and transforms the body, matter, and image, revealing primordial gestures.

Primordial Gestures

I

I press down hard with my thumbs on the pills still encased in their packaging. This breaks the aluminum foil of the blister pack and creates an opening. Tac! it sounds, like the hand of a clock. I take each pill and place it in my mouth; trapped in saliva, they lie still. Then, a glass half-filled with water accompanies the ritual and sends them down the digestive tract. This happens every day of the week, preventing the virus from replicating in the blood. This act protects the sacred fluid.

II

After collecting nectar, the bees return to the hive and regurgitate it, along with enzymes from their stomachs, into each of the cells. We humans call this bee vomit “honey.” Worker bees produce beeswax from specialized glands in their abdomens. They use it to build and maintain the honeycombs, as well as to seal each cell. This wax seal, called a cap, prevents excess water from damaging the honey. This act protects the sacred liquid.

Activity No. 1 

Sculpture and Installation

(in-person)

Since the start of antiretroviral therapy, I have been collecting the pharmaceutical materials provided by the healthcare system month after month: boxes, blister packs, and pill bottles. This accumulation of material has taken shape as an archive and as a temporal record of living with the virus and maintaining an undetectable viral load, which means I can no longer transmit it. What I have termed a “material archive” is a mass-produced product of the pharmaceutical industry, through which I have chosen to pose questions about the condition and transformation of matter—which, in this case, is my own body. Each time a pill is removed from its container, the primordial gesture is revealed. 

*Until Blood Becomes Pollen* comprises five sculptural and installation pieces that emerge from pharmaceutical material and other types of materialities—which we might call organic. These materialities, which are associated with the observed bee colonies, will be responsible for revealing the spirit of the primordial gesture: wax, earth, iron oxide, water, and honey.

The pieces that will be part of the exhibition at KB Espacio para la Cultura will be created between June and July in collaboration with a sculpture assistant (Carolina Sánchez).

The exhibition is expected to be installed during the second week of August.

An audiovisual and photographic record of this exhibition will be created, along with exhibition brochures that serve as a summary of the project for visitors. (Sketches illustrating the characteristics of the sculptural pieces and the exhibition can be viewed in the attachments.)

 “THE SPIRIT OF THE SWARM” Events

Guests: Amapola, Miguel Ángel López (Más que tres letras), Camilo Acosta (Los Amarillos)

The goal of this first dialogue was to bring together people interested in reflecting on living with HIV. A space was created to allow individual and collective memories and experiences to flourish, as well as the specificities of the diverse contexts that shape these stories, such as age, race, gender, sexual identity, access to healthcare and treatment, sociocultural and economic factors, vulnerabilities related to gender diversity and sexual orientation, sex work, education, and discrimination.

Finally, through a creative exercise, we explored how to make the experience of living with HIV more bearable—both individually and collectively—as well as how to challenge stereotypes and promote the demystification and destigmatization of living with HIV.

​​"Collecting the Nectar, Offering the Honey" Meetings

Guest: Eduardo Merino Gouffray

This dialogue was guided by the biology and ecology of bees, their behavior as a social species, cosmological stories of the U’wa indigenous people, and the song of the bees. We also discussed the importance of conserving the Melipona species and the term “emboscarse.” The dialogue was accompanied by a hands-on workshop in which we sweetened our words with honey from “angel” bees and worked with earth and honey as primary sculptural materials.

"The Spirit of the Swarm" Gathering

Body and Creative Writing Workshop.

Guests: Santiago Llano, Andrea Velasco.

Following the “The Founding of the Hive” gathering, we continued reflecting on HIV as both a vital and social experience. Using body mobilization and creative writing methodologies, we sought ways to narrate what we call “pivotal moments” in the life of any body, as well as the current challenges of living with the virus, taking into account the particularities that arise in diverse contexts. We allowed the poetic and political voices of HIV-positive and HIV-negative bodies to flourish.

Workshop: “Letting the Pollen Fall on the Flower”

Poster Workshop

Based on the texts resulting from the “The Spirit of the Swarm” gathering, a poster workshop will be held. This workshop aims to introduce participants to simple poster-making techniques while also bringing the created texts to life for a subsequent intervention in public space. The logic of poster art, based on the mass and replicable reproduction of a single element, bears similarities to the process of viral propagation and the establishment of a beehive.

Intervention: “The Swarming Fever”

Appropriation of public space in collaboration with the collective “Tomamos la palabra,” based on the posters created during the “Let the Pollen Fall on the Flower” gathering.

Video Screening “Los Amarillos”

*Los Amarillos* is an experimental fiction video based on the authors’ biographical experiences, telling the story of two individuals who feel alienated due to their adherence to antiretroviral therapy for patients with HIV/AIDS in Bogotá, Colombia.

This project was commissioned by the 2022 Day With(out) Art grant from VisualAids