THE HIVES

excerpt from CHEROKEE DIARY (see Aug, 31, 2010)

Cherokee artist and co-owner of the Tribal Ground Coffee House in Cherokee, NC presented an artist presentation of exploring the transformation of mind, body and spirit in a mixed media and video installation referencing her Cherokee heritage and universal issues facing humanity and the Cherokee culture.

I went into a small exhibition room, which contained a video mural of trees and mountains on the back wall.  The light level in the video woods begins at dawn, passes through midday and ends in early evening.  Several huge hives of paper mache with the subtle outline of the female figure in the hive design were suspended on bare branches and the hives were approximately five feet in length and three feet in diameter.  As I sat down an audio sound came from the surrounding air.  At first it sounded like a hornet then grew into the sound of a swarm of hornets but in the sound also was the haunting sounds of whispers.  The sound intensified to an almost unbearable degree.  I felt as if I was hearing the whispers of women grow in earnestness through the ages, to be heard, felt, to be credited.  I came out stunned and empowered at the same time.

Natalie's comments: "Hornets' nests are started by queens that leave one colony to start another.  The queen builds the new hive large enough to house 305 daughters.  When the daughters are old enough to help build the hive, the queen gives birth to additional females that also go to work.  The busiest time is when all the female become well orchestrated.... Early Cherokee communities were matriarchal societies.  Women were venerated.  Historically, Cherokee women were strong, independent nurturers who raised the crops and made the important political decisions.  Children belonged to the mothers, not the fathers.  Cherokee men had their own independent lives. "

According to Natalie, Cherokee social structure changed as the white settlers' governing system strengthened.

Natalie is part ot the generation who will take over responsibility for the continued reawakening of Cherokee culture on the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Reservation) in North Carolina.

"Making HIVESwas about waking up and restarting what has long been dormant...It is about organizing and taking a natural role...At the same time, it is about respecting our ancestors and all those women who did things to protect our culture."