Artist statement

The Ford series is a study of how the wild and delicate process of active grieving reshapes our relationship with ourselves and the people around us. Inpired by the Japanese language’s nuanced words for mourning, this body of work explores the complexity of grief through abstraction.  I have long been moved by how the language conveys the intricacies of grieving—its ability to articulate the unseen and often unspoken aspects of grief.  Through this process of daily painting, I seek to record the profound impact of death on the bereaved, translating various cultural traditions of mourning into visual form. The deaths of people who we love become a critical impact that can rewire us. The marks that I make during these painting sessions are traces of this struggle—emotional, physical, and at times, psychological. There is chaos in this motion, but also a sense of comfort, purpose and peace through the repetition of daily painting practice. Working with an action-painting process using brushes and brayers, I embrace free association—letting music and impulse guide me as I work. This grief work becomes meditative, trance like, compulsive, exhausting, anesthetic through the intense focus.

In these interconnected stories of grief, I invite the viewer to reflect upon their own experiences of insurmountable loss of a loved one. I hope that the exhibit brings a sense of wonderment and peace.

-Macaulay Woods, May 2025

For my mom and my son Leo Marvelle.