Embroidering Britain’s Lost Bees

Edinburgh-based embroiderer Tzipporah Johnston has always used her artwork as a means of communicating a message that is important to her.

Her latest project, the Beerometer, charts the decline of Britain’s bee population from 1920 onwards in three separate intricately embroidered works, focusing particularly on the shrinking diversity of bumblebee species due to habitat destruction and climate change.

Her bees will form part of a triptych; three embroidery hoops mapping bee species diversity in 1920, 2020 and a grim prediction for 2120.