Unruly; Reimagining religious historical dogma through a queer lens.
The work for Unruly began while reading the The Hand-Book for the Bee-Hive Girls of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Latter Day Saints, written in 1915. It’s the basis for Beehive, its membership is a rite of passage for all young Mormon girls. My grandmother was a Beehive, my mother was a Beehive, just as I was a Beehive when I was 12 years old.
Much has changed since the publication of this handbook, including calling groups of young women “Beehives” as of 2019. For example, young women in the LDS faith are not asked to go float in the Great Salt Lake or prepare leftovers four different ways. However, many of the same themes, expectations, and ideas continue to be taught to this day. Most of all there is still a sense that one must follow the rules in order to belong.
Reading this text as a queer person, there isn’t a place in this handbook for someone like me and yet, with the distance of time much of what the handbook describes starts to sound queer. With this collection, I am examining place-specific oddities and introducing queerness into the language for Beehive belonging.
Bees are born to work. To work themselves to death. The female bees make the entire hive function. They all have very specific roles as they move through their short, extremely productive, six weeks of life. There is an undeniable connection to capitalism and labor in this comparison. If you work, and work hard enough, you have value, you belong.
And yet, a beehive can also be a symbol for collective healing power and the making of excess honey as a delicious unintended byproduct. “Beehive girls' ' is video and audio captured from my actual beehive. Bees also produce a gentle, low-frequency humming sound as they fly and communicate with one another. These vibrations have a soothing and therapeutic effect on the human nervous system.
“Gay Ducks 4 Sale” is a collection of exactly 100 ducks that are, in fact, for sale. The money will go towards a local organization, Project Rainbow, which was created to support and amplify voices of LGBTQ+ individuals living in Utah. Their organizational budget is less than .001% of the Church of Latter Day Saints assets and income.
Photos by Jesse Meredith