In November 2020, MacLeod underwent an Arts and Ecology residency at the Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens, granted by the Sunshine Coast Council. During this residency, MacLeod was awarded a mentorship with Artist, Jude Anderson, as part of the Seed-Pod program with Punctum Inc.
Throughout this residency, MacLeod delved deeply into a study of the interwoven connectivities between bodies of trees and human beings/ bodies, becoming an on-going project named, Sap Works.
Bloodwood Tree Poem, Bloodwood Sap and Lichen Ink, 21.0 x 29.7 cm, 2020. (SOLD)
Bleeding Bloodwood Tree, Digital Image. Documentation.
Tree Poem, Bloodwood Sap Pigment on Tissue Paper, 14.81 x 21.01 cm, 2020.
Moon from a Burnt Forest, Bush Fire Charcoal Pigment and Bloodwood Tree Sap, 29.7 x 42 cm, 2020. (FOR SALE).
Moss Hands, Copper Oxide Ink and Bloodwood Tree Sap, 21.0 x 29.7 cm, 2020. (FOR SALE).
Learning to draw with tree sap. Documentation.
Charred Forest, Charcoal Pigment and Bloodwood Tree Ink, 14.81 x 21.01 cm, 2020. (FOR SALE).
Tree Poem, Bloodwood Sap Pigment on Tissue Paper, 14.81 x 21.01 cm, 2020.
Tree Ring Drawing, Bloodwood Tree Sap and Salt, 21.0 x 29.7 cm, 2020. (FOR SALE).
Site Responsive Tree Drawings. Documentation.
Close Up Image of Tree Sap on Tissue Paper, Digital Image. Documentation.
Learning to draw with tree sap. Documentation.
Sap Excretion - II, Bloodwood tree sap on paper, left under a bleeding bloodwood tree over night in the rain – the sap exudes. 29.7 x 42cm, 2020.
Sentient Being, Digital Image of an old Eucalyptus Pilularis, 2020. Documentation.
MacLeod intends to further develop the concept of her on-going project, Sap Works. To intricately study the Bloodwood trees, and the sap that they excrete.
Mapping stressed Bloodwood trees across the Sunshine Coast region, and making artworks from their sap is a process of re-connecting to place and country.
Dialogue with a bleeding Bloodwood tree: Listen to the tree, sit beneath her, speak with her, hear how she responds. Tree mother.
#tree embodiment #bloodwood tree #language of trees #earth poem #sap works
I pay my deepest respect to the Traditional Custodians of the Country from which these artworks have been created: the Kabi Kabi/ Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara peoples of the Sunshine Coast. To all First Nations elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.