Presented at the 2025 edition of the outdoor exhibition AILYOS, Art & Nature, this sculpture conveys a crucial message: the importance of pollinators to the balance of our ecosystems.

Plant vitality, in turn, means human vitality and the vitality of our ecosystems in general. The vital role of bees and other pollinating insects (such as butterflies, flies, ladybugs, etc.) is well known today, but certainly underreported in the media. Although they receive less attention than their domestic cousins, which produce our honey, wild bees are responsible for a major portion of the pollination of flowering plants — whether on our balconies, in our gardens, parks, fields, forests, or in the most remote wilderness areas.

For several decades now, their populations have been declining, with potentially disastrous consequences for our environment and our food supply. This alarming decline is certainly due to several factors, including the obvious overuse of pesticides in agriculture, landscape fragmentation, and also the invisible territorial competition that these species sometimes engage in with one another due to a lack of resources. When pitted against farmed populations, wild species often come out on the losing end… And so it is biodiversity that is threatened.

All of this is happening right before our eyes, but on a scale too small to capture the attention of a broad public. Promoting this cause is a powerful symbolic gesture with the potential to bring together people of all generations. We must admit that the honeybee enjoys a very high level of “public appeal” in our Western culture — something that, unfortunately, few insects can boast… We can therefore say with certainty: it embodies all the characteristics of a charismatic standard-bearer!

AILYOS offers a thoughtful encounter between art and the alpine environment. In Aigle, Yvorne, Leysin, Les Mosses, and Les Diablerets, contemporary sculptures are set amidst nature, between the plains and the peaks. An invitation to walk, observe, and experience the landscape in a new way.

Sculpture created in partnership with GAM, Groupe d’Artisans du Métal Sàrl

Work acquired through a partnership between the town of Leysin and TLML SA.