Image: Luca Molnar: Worker Bees, 2025. Painted mural on concrete. 7 x 38 feet. Mennello Museum of American Art, Art Pollination. © Luca Molnar.
Luca Molnar’s mural ‘Worker Bees’ has been on view in the Mennello Museum of American Art’s museum garden in Orlando since it was unveiled on 10 October 2025, and the museum lists it as ongoing. The 2025 work measures 7 by 38 feet and is painted on concrete.
The mural is part of ‘Art Pollination,’ a public-art project in Orlando supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. According to the museum, the project uses art installations and community engagement to address food insecurity.
Molnar’s work focuses on Florida’s agricultural economy and its place in the country’s food system. The museum describes Florida as the United States’ “Winter Garden,” pointing to the importance of citrus, sugarcane, tomatoes and other produce in the state’s economy and culture.
The mural’s visual language draws on the honeycomb structures of beehives and their resemblance to forms found in quilt patterns. The museum frames this connection through the traditions of memorial and community quiltmaking, presenting the composition as a metaphor for solidarity.
‘Worker Bees’ also honors farm workers and advocates campaigning for improved working conditions and rights. Its subject extends beyond agricultural production to the systems and forms of collective action connected to food justice. The museum describes the work as bringing together education, reporting, labor organizing, legal advocacy, ministry and art activism to suggest that food justice can be built collaboratively.
The museum credits additional support for the mural and for the museum garden to Commissioner Robert F. Stuart of Orlando District 3, and names Fleet Farming | IDEAS For Us as the garden’s maker.
The Mennello Museum of American Art is supported by the City of Orlando, Friends of the Mennello Museum of American Art and the Frank Holt Fund. Additional funding for its exhibitions comes from Orange County, Florida, through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program, and from United Arts of Central Florida.
