Word + Image + Surprise
Book Plate Art Project
This creative initiative brings together artists, libraries, and readers in a quiet, playful exchange of art and storytelling across Redlands in Quandamooka Country.
Biochrome print fragments of Melaleuca quinquenervia… disinfectant… print on paper.
Melaleuca quinquenervia is known for its natural disinfectant and healing properties, this iconic tea tree of Minjerribah is captured here in a state of organic metamorphosis, revealing both strength and fragility.
Book Plate Art Project – Medicinal Flora of Minjerribah
I’m honoured to be one of six artists commissioned for the 2025 Book Plate Art Project, curated by Leanne MacIntyre for Redlands City Council Libraries and launching in June. This creative initiative brings together artists, libraries, and readers in a quiet, playful exchange of art and storytelling across Redlands in Quandamooka Country.
For this project, I created a series of postcard-sized artworks featuring medicinal plants of Minjerribah / North Stradbroke Island, drawn from my PhD research and made using my biochrome process. Each small image is a tile—part of a larger original artwork, also complete in itself. These miniatures explore the beauty, healing potential, and metamorphic power of native flora, inviting readers to pause and reconnect with nature.
These FREE prints will be tucked inside books in Redlands libraries—an unexpected surprise for readers to find and keep. It’s a gesture of giving back to community, honouring the cycle of life, and creating space for connection through art.
About the Project
The Book Plate Art Project – Redlands brings together artists with strong ties to the Redlands Coast:
Michael Zavros, Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, Budla Malu (Mikayla Queary & Jhavon Auda), Mahala Burns, Kara Rosenlund, and myself, Renata Buziak.
We were invited to respond to books or stories through small-scale artworks that will circulate quietly through library collections, fostering shared moments between image, word and reader.
This project is supported by a Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) grant—a partnership between the Queensland Government and Redlands City Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
Word + Image + Surprise
“The most beautiful aspect of this project is possibly how it empowers individual unique responses to books and artworks, and how it empowers everyone’s own creative expression.”
— Dr Sally Butler, Associate Professor, Art History, UQ
In a reflective essay about the project, Dr Sally Butler explores how the fusion of words, images, and surprise invites connection, creativity and storytelling. She traces the origin of the project to creative responses during the COVID-19 lockdowns and draws a meaningful link to Quandamooka visual and literary traditions, including the legacy of Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
Images on this page:
- Banner image: Fragments of Hardenbergia violacea… blood-purifier…, archival print on paper, by Renata Buziak.
- Details of Melaleuca quinquenervia… disinfectant… , archival print on paper, by Renata Buziak.