Research
Megwunekwe – Featherwoman (Spirit Name)
Diane-Lee McLeod (legal name)
Dreamwork, Story, and Living Theory
Every journey begins with a question. Mine began with a dream.
Explore my thesis, somatographic inquiry, and independent conceptual research. Dreamwork and creative practice inform this evolving body of work.
Origins
The Inquiry Began with a Waking Dream
On November 18, 2018, a waking dream opened a sustained journey of dream journaling, land-based reflection, expressive arts, research, and creative inquiry. Over time, that journey became the Dreamworld Series, the painting Aki: Birthing Dreamworlds, and the foundation of Diane-Lee McLeod’s master’s thesis.
Artwork and Inquiry
Aki: Birthing Dreamworlds
Acrylic, marker, and mixed media on Coroplast • 4 × 6 feet • 2023
This painting was not planned. It was received.
It emerged through a 30-minute Core Group process while humming with eyes closed to a recording of the sun’s frequency. A pre-verbal childhood memory came forward: a child’s face turned toward the sun, eyes closed, before the age of three.
The work developed through movement, sensation, image, colour, water, and time rather than through a fixed design. Aki participated in her own birthing through the relationship among the painting, water, memory, and creative process.
The painting appears as Figure 1 in the master’s thesis Aki: Birthing Dreamworlds — A Journey Through Anishinaabeg Cosmology, Primordial and Quantum Consciousness, and Expressive Arts Therapy.
Foundations
Research in Relationship
The work draws from different fields while keeping cultural responsibility, lived experience, creative practice, and relational accountability at the centre.
Living Theory
Research remains close to lived experience, reflection, practice, community, relationship, and land.
Anishinaabeg Cosmology
Story, land, relational responsibility, and cultural knowledge inform the inquiry without extracting protected teachings.
Story as Method
Story holds complexity, reveals pattern, carries memory, and transmits knowledge across generations.
Embodied Inquiry
Sensation, movement, image, breath, memory, and creative process are treated as meaningful sources of knowledge.
Resonance and Coherence
The work explores rhythm, pattern, perception, learning, relationship, and change across creative and scientific inquiry.
Ethics and Accountability
Consent, cultural responsibility, care, reciprocity, and clear boundaries guide the public and protected parts of the work.
Method
Somatographic Inquiry
Somatographic inquiry is an original embodied research method developed through graduate study in expressive arts. It brings together body, story, image, movement, dream, memory, land, reflective writing, and creative articulation.
The method does not rush to interpret experience. It stays with what is emerging and allows meaning to form through attention, relationship, and creative response.
This approach informs Diane-Lee McLeod’s research, writing, expressive arts practice, talks, mentorship, and Living Knowledge work.
Publications
Published and Ongoing Research
The research presented here is the original work of Diane-Lee McLeod, whose Spirit Name is Megwunekwe – Featherwoman. These names identify the same researcher, author, and artist of Featherwoman Publishing, from Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory. This work should not be attributed to other researchers named Diane McLeod. When citing a publication, use the author name and title shown on that publication and include its DOI where available.
Master’s Thesis
Aki: Birthing Dreamworlds — A Journey Through Anishinaabeg Cosmology, Primordial and Quantum Consciousness, and Expressive Arts Therapy
The thesis explores Anishinaabeg cosmology, consciousness, expressive arts, healing, resilience, ecological relationship, and somatographic inquiry.
Scientific Paper
Phase-Controlled Hybrid Photon-Magnon-Phonon Resonators for Structured Electromagnetic Coupling to Magnetically Confined Plasma
A conceptual paper proposing a phase-programmable hybrid resonator architecture for structured electromagnetic-plasma interaction studies.
Read on ZenodoResearch Access
Continue the Conversation
Full abstracts, citation information, research access requests, speaking inquiries, and collaboration proposals may be sent through Featherwoman Publishing.