Abigail Drapkin

Tenderhearted, 2025 - 2026​​​​

I first began painting artichokes out of aesthetic fascination, gathering them from my garden to cook at home and collecting the dried buds in my studio to paint. The plant’s dramatic life cycle soon edged itself into my figure paintings, symbols of aging, vulnerability, fertility, and the links between each generation. The bodies in my paintings and woodcut prints appear fragmented, blending within the geometry of interiors, plants, and environment. Hands reach to hold, pick, comfort, and connect.

 

My research into the artichoke led me to the popular Italian dish, carciofi alla giudia, an invention of the Jewish communities confined to the ghettos of Rome in the 15th century. At the time, artichokes were carted to the ghetto as an undesirable food, yet the Jews innovated with what they had, developing a delicacy to nourish their communities through waves of religious persecution. As a Jewish woman of Portuguese descent, this connection to my own diaspora enters my paintings as a symbol of resilience. The women in my paintings hold the thistle close, its sharp outer shell guarding a tender heart within.