Tonya McMullan

Tonya McMullan is an artist with a socially engaged practice. Her work is context-specific, participatory and performative interactions within a place for the public. Each new project shifts focus and evolves with public engagement to activate the narrative; from working with groups of women on a sewing project for Processions - celebrating the centenary of the suffragette movement, collaborating with a group of people facing homelessness to tell their stories to the passing public or one off performative installations the intention is to explore the confines of our environment.

McMullan has immersed herself in the world of beekeeping for several years. These ongoing projects with beekeeping, urban agriculture and pollinators developed into researching human connection and kinship with insects. This interest evolved from keeping bees, running honey tastings, workshops and talks; engaging with the public, specialists and scientists. This has moved to studying biological drives like how honey bees use scent to find nectar or pheromones to suppress egg production and how beekeepers use artificial lures or can even use their own senses (smell) to predict behaviour in the hive.

Image: Tonya McMullan, There’s something in the æther 2021. Scent, with accompanying hand sanitiser and card. Photo: Ros Kavanagh