I began integrating nettles within my art practise in June 2022.
The moment that sparked by interest in nettles was walking into the kitchen while my grandmother was making nettle soup and seeing lots of nettles laid out on our table to dry after she had washed them. I realised nettles don't sting if they had been soaked. That sparked my interest in the properties of the plant.
I think there's something really interesting and worth exploring in such a beautiful, nutritious plant with so many medical properties and a rich history to also be a plant treated like a weed, disregarded in modern gardening, and unwanted because of its sting - which is also meant to be good for you.
I find nettles to be a metaphor of human relations. We know nettles sting, we know it's a defensive plant, but we find the good in them. We hold them gently to not get stung. They're a very difficult plant to grow on purpose, and a very hard one to get rid of if you don't want it.