Inception – Charity Auction for Make 2nds Count

The Pentland Guardian captures a personal journey to seek and reconnect with wildness in a new way. Let this guardian remind you of the experiences that continually unveil themselves around us if we’re not afraid to step into the wild.

“Creating the Pentland was an exploration of being playful and embracing risk taking. The journey of creating of this image has informed the rest of my practice.” 

Danielle Macleod is a mask maker and photographer based in the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Her photography draws on traditional Hebridean culture, local stories and her upbringing on a windswept and untamed island on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. After graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 2020, Danielle returned to her home island and began her current practice of creating wearable sculptures from foraged and discovered natural materials. These masks and costumes are photographed and become personifications of the outer and inner wild. The models bring to life creatures that exist in an otherworld, demonstrating connection to one’s culture, tradition and place. Through working with found materials and shooting outdoors, Danielle has continued to deepen her spiritual relationship to this environment. The folklore of the Hebrides has a rich oral tradition which generates stories that grow and change over time. Danielle’s images interpret this folklore in an alternative way that pays homage to these traditions in a visual format, and these stories she draws upon can continue to be reimagined as time moves on. 

Communication Design, Glasgow School of Art BA (Hons), 2016–2020 

Group Exhibitions • Legacy: Group Show for FLOW Photofest, Highland Print Studio, Inverness 2021 • RSA Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture, Edinburgh, 2022 • Street Level Open, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, 2022 • Na Boireannaich, by Danielle Macleod & Alice Macmillan, An Lanntair, 2022.

Solo Exhibitions • Guardians by Danielle Macleod, Island Darkroom, 2021 • Guardians by Danielle Macleod, McCallum Art House, Fort WIlliam, FLOW PHOTOFEST, 2021

The Scottish Artists’ Benevolent Association Award, 196th Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition

www.daniellemacleodphoto.com

instagram: @danielle_mac_leod