The Good of the Hive® is an idea, a movement, an organization and an adventure founded by artist Matt Willey on a personal commitment to hand-paint 50,000 honey bees – the number necessary for a healthy, thriving hive – in murals around the world. The mission: ignite radical curiosity for planetary health issues through art and storytelling. The bee and her hive are the artist’s symbols, but at the essence it is about activating and celebrating the power in human connection.

Honey bees within the hive ‘think’ collectively. They are hard-wired to understand that their immune system is collective. Their health is based on the health of the hive, not the individual bee. After a personal experience with a honey bee in 2008, Matt realized that human health is the same way, although we rarely act like it. If COVID-19 has taught us anything it is that we are truly all connected more deeply than we realize. The global hive Matt is painting is a metaphor for the connectedness of all things. The bees are a symbol for humans, trees, animals, pollinators, water, soil and everything in between.