Time's Passage: Discovering Aesthetic Value in Deterioration
Unveiling the Captivating Decay: Kelly McDonald's Photography Series 'Relics'
Embracing beauty in the most unconventional forms, photographer Kelly McDonald showcases the charm of dying flowers and decaying plants.
Recently acclaimed as Ottawa's best photography account by the 2025 Faces of Ottawa awards, McDonald specializes in botanicals, using them to create her thought-provoking art.
Her latest work, ‘Relics’, spotlights withering vegetation, serving as a poignant reflection of life's transience. Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2021, McDonald uses ‘Relics’ to delve into the transformations occurring in her body and mind.
This series finds McDonald not only capturing botanicals at various life stages but also mirroring her personal journey with Parkinson's through these fleeting, immersive images.
Produced by Owen Spillios-Hunter and Ley Pickard
Special thanks to Kelly McDonald
Additional photos courtesy of Kelly McDonald
Music
Les Artistes, Eva Hummingbird, Epidemic Sound
More From The Lens of Kelly McDonald
Kelly McDonald, a lens-based artist, is on a journey to express her personal experiences with Parkinson's disease through her photographs. Diagnosed in 2021, she probes the impact of Parkinson's on her life and body using her art as a vessel for reflection [2].
Connection to Parkinson's
In 'Relics', McDonald's subjects - withering plants and flowers - portray life's elusive nature and the changes wrought by Parkinson's on her own physical form. Through working with locally sourced botanicals, she captures the life cycle of these plants, creating a poetic parallel to the ongoing transformations her body undergoes due to Parkinson's [5].
Artistic Approach
McDonald's photographs are printed on handmade washi paper, adding a soft, tactile quality to her images. This medium communicates the fragility and vulnerability of her subjects, as well as the emotional journey she embarks on [5]. Her work is marked by a considered, intimate approach, focusing on the intricate details of her subjects and the light's dance with them, emphasizing the allure of decay and transformation [5].
Discovering 'Relics'
Although specific images from the ‘Relics’ series are unavailable, viewers can delve into Kelly McDonald's artistic journey through her social media platforms and website, kmphoto.ca [1]. Her Instagram profile, @kelly_mcdonald_photographs, presents a peek into her creative process and recent projects, including updates on new additions to the ‘Relics' series [1][4].
Community and Achievements
As a graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), McDonald is actively involved in community projects like ‘True To Life’, providing photography training for young adults with Down syndrome, underlining her dedication to making a difference [5]. Her work has been exhibited in Ottawa, Toronto, and Barcelona, and she has received an Honourable Mention at the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for her botanical series [5].
- Kelly McDonald's journey with Parkinson's disease is reflected in her photography series 'Relics', where she delves into the transformations occurring in her body and mind due to the neurological disorder, using decaying flora as a metaphor.
- In 'Relics', the decaying plants and flowers serve as a poetic parallel to the changes McDonald faces due to Parkinson's, emphasizing the allure of decay and transformation.
- McDonald's artistic approach is marked by a considered, intimate exploration of her subjects, using a handmade washi paper medium to add a soft, tactile quality to her images, symbolizing the fragility and vulnerability of her subjects.
- Diagnosed in 2021, McDonald uses her art as a vessel for reflection, showcasing the charm of dying flowers and decaying plants, bringing awareness to the beauty in the most unconventional forms as a part of the health-and-wellness and medical-conditions discourse.
- The 'Relics' series, according to Spillios-Hunter and Pickard, challenges the viewer to confront the inevitability of decay and the passage of time, highlighting aspects of war, policy, science, and art intertwined in the context of Parkinson's.
- As a renowned artist, McDonald has acclaimed achievements, being named Ottawa's best photography account in the 2025 Faces of Ottawa awards and being recognized with an Honourable Mention at the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for her botanical series.
