Artist Statement

My creative work explores how and why so much of healthcare is delivered within systems that don’t successfully make compassionate a priority. I ask if change is possible.

This work was validated when I won a 2025 national Canadian art competition on the Art of a Good Death in the category, Effectiveness in Communicating Research. The winning cartoon, “I’m OK”: https://griefmatters.ca/cartoons/im-ok

I received a Canada Council of the Arts grant for my first book and am applying for another now.
I have also recently started to explore the emotional impact possible within abstract painting and hope to incorporate some of this in my book.

Biography

Education
● Master of Fine Arts (Creative Nonfiction) – University of King’s College, Halifax, Canada
● Bachelor of Fine Arts – NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
● Bachelor of Arts – Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada
● Certificate, Year-Long Program – Sequential Artists Workshop, Gainesville, Florida, 2023
Juried Residencies
• Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity –
Graphic Novel and Visual Narrative Residency with Matt Maddon and Bishakh Som, April/May 2023 (reference letter included in this application)
● Can Serrat International Art Residency – Spain, November 2024
● La Maison de Beaumont Art Residency – France, October/November 2025
Current Work
● Nimbus Publishing: Under contract to create a graphic nonfiction book on healthcare and compassion; publication date is spring 2028.
● Cartoonist-in-Residence, Grief Matters (University of Waterloo & Dalhousie University) – Focused on grief literacy and visual storytelling in grief awareness. https://griefmatters.ca/grief-cartoons
Publications & Books
● Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care (Conundrum Press, 2021)
o Nominated for the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia Evelyn Richardson
o Creative Non-fiction Award – First graphic narrative to be included
o Reviewed as “Outstanding in its Genre” by Booklist, an American Library Association publication
o Review by Graphic Medicine International Collective: https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/dying-for-attention/
o Other reviews and readers’ responses found at: https://www.susanmacleod.ca/book
Exhibitions & Presentations
● 2022 Graphic Medicine Conference (Chicago, USA) – Invited guest panelist at the plenary session
● 2022 Frye Festival, Writers in Community (Moncton, NB) - Invited keynote speaker
● Illustrations published in:
o Kaiser Permanente
o Halifax Magazine
o Lion’s Roar Magazine
o Maisonneuve
o The Fold
o The Globe and Mail
Grants & Awards
● Winner of the prize for effectiveness in communicating the research on a “good death” in the Art Competition hosted by the Isenberg Lab at the Bruyère Health Research Institute, 2025.
● Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia Evelyn Richardson Creative Non-fiction Award (Nominee)
● Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Residency Grant
● Can Serrat International Art Residency Selection
● Canada Council for the Arts “Explore and Create” grant
● Arts Nova Scotia grant secured for the book by Conundrum Press
Professional Experience & Related Work
● Over 15 years in professional communications within the healthcare system
● Freelance illustrator working on projects related to awareness for end-of-life care
● Member of VEOLI, a collaborative group of artists visualizing end-of-life issues https://www.veoli.net
● Invited to be a Peer Reviewer for emerging writer submissions with Arts New Brunswick
Memberships & Affiliations
• VEOLI – Artist collective exploring visual storytelling on end-of-life topics