US Embassy
Beijing, China
The Location
After participating in a group show at the US Embassy in Beijing featuring 19 artists focusing on environment and activism, Matt was invited back to create a permanent mural in 2024.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing opened a section of the courtyard to participate in The Good of the Hive.
This was Matt’s first time in Asia. The fact that an experience with one tiny bee in 2008 had rippled out across the world to become a mural in Beijing (Bee-jing as it was affectionately called it during the project) is mind bending. Matt was repeatedly seen pinching himself just to be sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Matt painted this mural in a very short amount of time with the help of ten amazing local art students and a couple of new friends he made at the embassy. This project opened Matt’s mind to the potential of The Good of the Hive is ways he never even imagined. The gratitude for the people at the embassy that made this happen is immeasurable.
Scroll through the photo gallery below to view images from the project.
Why Honey Bees?
The mural centers around the hive and the queen. Matt incorporated one native pollinator from every continent on the planet where bees and people dwell as a powerful visual testament to the interconnectedness of all life on earth. The project took place under the tenure of Ambassador Nicholas Burns, whose embassy had long championed people-to-people engagement and public dialogue, making the courtyard walls of one of the world’s most diplomatically complex postings an unlikely but fitting canvas for a message of shared ecological responsibility.
Ambassador Burns’ wife Libby is a beekeeper so we had lots to talk about!
