THE BEES AND THE LEDGER | KAI WASIKOWSKI
A foreground figure with a covered face, portrayed against a white background, is the central image of The Bees and the Ledger, an extensive work by Australian artist Kai Wasikowski (Canberra, 1992). The portrait that leads the scene belongs to the artist’s maternal grandmother: the objects surrounding her, also photographed against white backgrounds, juxtaposed yet individually framed, serve as details—or rather, clues—to piece together the story of her life. The series plays with different scales, a formal device that allows Wasikowski to construct a non-linear timeline, where each element is like a precious piece of a mosaic—significant but not self-sufficient. A collection of data, information, references, and curiosities.
Which story does the artist tell, starting from the central figure of this woman—whom we glimpse behind an anonymous green mesh that partially reveals her face—dressed in clothing that does not define a specific time or action?
A story of labor, the movement of goods and people: the artist’s maternal grandmother worked for a Polish shipping company, where she was responsible for cataloging and managing the cargo manifests of transport ships. It is, therefore, a story of colonialism, labor, and the role of industry—understood as a vast, cohesive network of structures and people—within European migration routes and their impact on individual lives, immediate family circles, and the broader concept of community and social life.
And the bees, which Natalia Broadhurst (the artist’s grandmother) tended for over thirty years, become a paradigm of this European migration process: forced to move them when she herself had to relocate, the bee colonies (a term that is far from neutral in this context) struggled to adapt, and some hives were completely abandoned.
Wasikowski constructs a complex photographic sequence that contrasts the stark, decontextualized representation of studio objects—a pair of gloves, handwritten notes, a shopping cart—with images of ports, cargo ships, and intimate family gatherings, which belong to equally familiar spheres of photography, such as documentation and memory.
The Bees and the Ledger: N.B. (bee suit) by Kai Wasikowski is currently on display at Fondazione MAST as part of the exhibition featuring the finalist artworks of the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work 2025, curated by Urs Stahel, open from January 30 to May 4, 2025.
Kai Wasikowski
The Bees and the Ledger: N.B. (bee suit), 2024
Inkjet print, 133 x 133 cm
Courtesy the artist and Fondazione MAST
12/03/25