During law school I worked tons of different jobs to save money for my travels. Some of the jobs were advertised, others came through word of mouth. To this day I cannot decide which was the hardest one: sitting at a production line – stools carefully assigned to alternate German and non-German factory workers (the so-called Turkish “guest workers” at the time) so conversation was unlikely – filling 20 pound bags with birdseeds, and lifting them off, all the while inhaling the dust of that stuff permeating the air of the huge hall. Or standing all day behind the counter of a fried chicken fast-food joint in the caves of a subway station, selling food. I don’t think I lasted more than a few weeks in either.

Then there were jobs I regularly returned to, filing bills and receipts for a renowned bookstore specializing in textbooks, typing in the office for a huge pickle company, and helping with book keeping at a construction firm. The variety in itself was an education – being in environments and with people I would usually not encounter, learning real life skills outside of the privileges of the ivory tower.

One of the more creative, if dangerous, jobs was candle making in the shop of a hippie out in the boonies, who spent most of his time in an Ashram in India, well supported by the candle business it seems, which paid pennies for the student workers. It was fun, but I also have the scars to show for it, hundreds of tiny spots on my arms where hot wax landed.

All this came back to mind while photographing the bees and bumblebees on my salvia plants, which are currently in bloom. Where do they bring the pollen, how much wax is produced for their hives? How are our ever scarcer bee populations affected by the decisions of a conspiracy theorist, who is rolling back 100+ EPA rules, slashing toxic cleanup funds, weakening pollution limits and blocking previous pesticide bans, none of it based on science?

Stopped myself right there, and tried to distract my thoughts away from the horrors, back to beauty instead, deserving of the bees. Focus on art!

Maybe you share my appreciation for the truly astounding installations made from wax by the French artist Juliette Minchin. Likely not bees’ wax, of course, but wax nonetheless.

Here are some pieces from the most recent Art Basel (2024),

Juliette Minchin Hydromancie 33 & 35 (2022)

and those shown in Munich, below; the latter was part of a group exhibition in the newly constructed Bergson Kunstkraftwerk building by Gallery König, METAPHOR TO METAMORPHOSIS, riffing on Franz Kafka.

(Allow me a side comment: Here is the exhibition announcement – when I hear the words “drawing from the aura of his works,” all I can do is try to stop my eyes from rolling at warp speed in my head….

“The exhibition draws inspiration from Franz Kafka, reflecting his exploration of identity and transformation in an ever-changing and threatening world. Central to the show are themes of personal, national, sexual, and other forms of identity, examined as unstable constructs that are constantly in flux and transformation, and often questioned by the artists. Kafka resists categorization, and perhaps it is this elusiveness and indescribability that makes his work so captivating even 100 years after his death. The exhibition does not seek direct references or interpretations of Kafka, nor does it offer an art historical analysis. Instead, it draws from the aura of his work, the sense of relentless search, an attempt to understand the world, and often alienation.”

Elusiveness and indescribability are perhaps apt terms for whatever this signage exhibits: name dropping and fashionable terms that serve as a rubber band heading for diverse approaches to art.

Juliette Minchin Lit 17 (2024)

Here, however, is Minchin’s site-specific installation that took my breath away, even when seeing it only in photographs, with no hope of experiencing it in person. The work was shown last year at the Museo Sant’Orsola in Florence, in a part of the former convent of the same name that is currently being redeveloped, with an anticipated official opening scheduled for 2026. (All images below from Juliette Minchin, Rivelazioni.) Everything you see here within the architectural frame is made from wax.

The specifics below from her website:

“For the space in the convent’s first church, Juliette Minchin has designed an installation that unfolds around the remains uncovered during the latest archaeological dig (2014). Her drapes and veils of wax envelop the architecture: the back of the room and the windows come to life, as if breathed through by a new breath of life. In her own way, the artist seems to be resuscitating the convent’s theatrical and fleeting Baroque past, of which there has been no trace since the 19th century. In the convent’s former pharmacy (spezieria), on the other hand, the artist is staging a vigil. Around the room’s imposing pillars, Juliette Minchin has hung panels covered in wax and wicks that will be lit and melted each day, offering visitors the spectacle of silent, ever-changing creativity. The shapes, light and scent of burning wax offer visitors a spellbinding sensory experience, a reference to the liturgical and healing rituals once practised in these places.​”

The combination of impermanence (the wax melting, the convent in ruins) and resurrection (the art reinstating and emphasizing the architectural beauty, the permanence of symbols of faith or attempts at healing) I find it all glorious. and I thought the idea of staging a vigil is an apt invitation for Memorial Day, today, honoring those who died for the rest of us, many in order to prevent fascism’s rise. May their sacrifice not have been in vain.

Of course, the beauty of the salvia blossoms is impermanent as well, while hopefully the collected pollen will be transformed into something a bit more stable and lasting: wax for the hives. Waxing and waning, thoughts coming and going. And the privilege to observe it all, matched by the obligation to remember.

Music today is by an Italian musician, recorded in a 14th century benedictine monastery in Varese, but reimagining sacred afro-cuban music. My current favorite, so beautiful and soothing.