Beata Tworek, The secret life of thistles (ART & CONCEPTUAL 2026)

The Secret Life of Thistles reflects my enduring fascination with thistles. My engagement with thistles is both aesthetic and ecological. I present them as portraits, isolated from their environment and rendered in sharp, fragmented detail and radiant light, imbuing them with presence and individuality. I also see them as beautiful and resilient survivors, as reminders of nature’s resistance to human interference. Created as a composite from CT scans, The Secret Life of Thistles presents a highly simplified, almost ornamental interpretation of the Illyrian thistle (Onopordum illyricum). Through luminous, radiating light, the work seeks to reveal the flower’s inner, mesmerising architecture and, renders visible both the seen and the unseen. Removed from reality and transformed into a mysterious, luminous form, the image invites contemplation of the intricate beauty of the natural world.

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