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 art competition on the Art of a Good Death in the category, Effectiveness in Communicating Research. The winning cartoon is, “I’m OK”: https://griefmatters.ca/cartoons/im-ok

I have also recently started to explore the emotional impact possible within abstract painting and hope to incorporate some of this in my second book, now under contract with Nimbus Publishing.

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
- Can Serrat International Art Residency, Spain, November 2024
- La Maison de Beaumont Art Residency, France, October/November 2025
- GRACIA artist residency, Antigua, Guatemala, April/May 2026

Current Work:
● Nimbus Publishing: Under contract to create a graphic nonfiction book on healthcare and compassion; publication date is spring 2028.
● Inaugural 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 Creative Nonfiction 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
● More than 20 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