Isabel McLeish was the recipient of the 2023 Cairngorms Youth Local Action Group residency. Isabel is a visual and socially engaged artist based in the Scottish Highlands. Her practice explores our innate connection to nature and themes of place, rurality, ecology and care. Isabel is also a certified guide in the Japanese wellness practice of ‘shinrin-yoku’ or ‘forest bathing’.
Bothy Project in partnership with The Cairngorms Youth Local Action Group, selected Isabel from an open call for artists aged 18-30 who have a connection to the Cairngorms National Park. She spent one week at Inshriach Bothy where she began research for a new body of work that responded to the Cairngorms National Park. Isabel created a series of monoprints and a photo journal Led by light which can be viewed in full on her website.
Above: Portrait of Isabel McLeish. Courtesy of the artist.
Image 1: Isabel McLeish, Trails, monoprint, 2023.
Image 2: Isabel McLeish, Lichen I, monoprint, 2023.
Images 3 & 4: Images from the residency. Courtesy of the artist.
This is the second Cairngorms Youth Local Action Group residency. The previous recipient of this residency was Rachael Horsburgh (2022).
This residency was supported by The Cairngorms Trust.
