" Accursed is the ground because of you... both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you... "
– Genesis 3:17-18
During my scrutinization of milk thistle - 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.
My series contemplates this complex bloom through stark still lifes. I take apart the plant’s flowers, thorns, leaves, and stems and rearrange them into constellation-like compositions that I photograph. I want to elevate the milk thistle into something of beauty.
I share this issue because we can better appreciate our natural world — the web of life that sustains us — when we truly see its beauty and its worth.
