Conversātiō: In the Company of Bees by Anne Noble

Massey University Press, Auckland 2021 DON ABBOTT

To many, bees are a source of wonder and mystery. They have occupied the life and work of photographer Anne Noble for a decade; in Conversātiō she suggests that a colony of bees can be seen as ‘an object of wonder that reminds us of how little we know about the interrelated complexity of the world’. This book explores bees through the lens of Noble’s oeuvre over several years, culminating in the 2018 work of the same name, when it was part of the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane.

The book is more than an art book but it operates perfectly well as one; (Two Rooms, 2015), settles over the reader of , like a bell jar of contemplation, and the images exert their quiet power, accompanied only by the rustle of turned pages.