Portfolios
Praising Thistle
“Make a wish on thistledown, and it will fly into space fulfilling each dream”
My series contemplates milk thistle through stark still life’s. I take apart the plant’s flowers, thorns, leaves, and stems and rearrange them into constellation-like compositions that I photograph.
During my scrutinization of this complex bloom - labeled a noxious weed to be eradicated - I came to understand its place in the cycle of life. Thistle’s destruction causes serious problems for pollinators — like Monarch butterflies (now an endangered species), hummingbirds and bees, because it’s flowers are a primary food source providing abundant nectar and pollen. On their long road trips, the pollinators are finding their “roadside restaurants” closed, as the thistle plant is dying away due to habitat loss and herbicides.
I want to elevate milk thistle into something of beauty, because we can better appreciate our natural world — the web of life that sustains us — when we truly see its beauty and its worth.
