White Bee

White Bee explores the forgotten matriarchal lineage in a patriarchal context, delving into themes of memory, female identity, and family connections. It bridges the distant past with personal reflections on womanhood and future legacies while examining the emotional, cultural, metaphysical, and biological connections between generations of women in the family as the artist reflects on her role in this continuum. In my grandmother’s house, I found a family tree drawn by a distant relative in 1971, along with a letter to my great-grandfather. It traced our family’s migration from Bosnia and Albania to Montenegro in the 14th and 15th centuries, listing generations of men by name. But one mention stood out—the foremother of our family fraternities, whose name was lost to time, overshadowed by patriarchy. In Serbian tradition, the earliest female ancestor is bela pčela (white bee). The meaning of this term remains unclear, especially since family trees rarely acknowledge women. However, she is believed to appear in the whiteness of the fog of memory, swarming in our consciousness, reminding us she is still here. Mine succeeded in that. Her presence raised questions about history, memory, and the erased role of women in patriarchal lineage. Discovering my white bee made me reflect on my own experiences as a woman—grappling with themes of fertility, inheritance, and the deep bonds with my mother, aunts, sisters, and grandmothers. By searching the past, I uncovered her presence hidden between the written lines. Now, as I look ahead, I find myself asking—will I become a white bee to someone?