The world is indeed filled with strangest things; from weird looking creatures, unsolved mysteries of unknown objects, to brilliant people doing crazy things. Just like this artist, who in her right mind, wore something that nobody would thought can be worn.
The woman I’m talking about is 44-year-old Sara Mapelli from Oregon — the self-proclaimed “Bee Queen” who wore 12,000 live bees crawling on her naked chest.
From a distance, you would thought this woman is wearing a natural blouse…
But as she comes closer, you’ll start to realize it’s nothing like you’ve seen before.
They’re actually live bees covering her torso up to her neck. The bees are attached to her skin by hanging special pheromone oil around her neck that is equivalent to the scent of 100 queen bees.
The self-proclaimed “Bee Queen” from Oregon let photographer Holly Wilmeth capture her unconventional obsession.
And as seen in the following image, Ms. Mapelli, together with her friends, enjoys an outdoor get-together while wearing her “bee-blouse”.
The beekeeper, who also works as an artist and healer, has been studying for years how the hive would react to her body.
And while they buzz around her, she performs a slow “spiritual” dance, which according to her is a form of meditation.
“I think of this dance as a duet among many. These 12,000 bees push with their powerful wings from each side of my body, I resist and then I let go and flow and move with them,” Ms. Mapelli wrote on her website.
“It is a deep meditation and I feel the hive mind surround me, hold me, and expand my body on a cellular level.”
Ms. Mapelli’s passion is certainly painful as she reveals she has been stung multiple times while dancing. But she says it’s worth the pain because she’s not doing this just to be famous and impress people but what drives her to do such thing is the desire to let the whole world know the difficult situation hairy-bodied insects are facing.
According to reports of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of managed honey bee colonies has declined from 5million to only 2.5million since 1940’s up to the present.
That’s why through her unusual line of work, Ms. Mapelli encourages people to do their share in helping solve the problem.