Bohie Blackwood (neé Palecek, she/her, b. 1987) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer and illustrator based on Wadawurrung Country in Geelong, Victoria. Originally from Braidwood, NSW, she works across public art, community engagement, environmental storytelling and human-centred design. Her practice focuses on shaping visual language that sparks connection, conversation and collective impact.

Rooted in both creativity and systems thinking, Bohie blends large-scale murals, symbolic illustration and strategic facilitation. Her work explores how meaning is created and who holds the power to create it. She collaborates with communities, researchers and organisations to transform complex themes such as reconciliation, climate change, identity and belonging into public and visible stories.

With a background in traditional signwriting, figurative art and graphic design, her early work challenged commercial aesthetics by offering hand-crafted alternatives to corporate messaging for clients such as UBER and Westfield. Over time, this evolved into a deeper inquiry into power, ecology and the commodification of creativity. Between 2019 and 2023, Bohie led a series of youth-led mural projects centred on gender equity, environmental themes and place-based identity, while mentoring young creatives through accessible and affirming co-creation processes.

Her visual language is both intuitive and intentional. Combining symbolism, narrative and visual clarity, her work creates space for complexity. In 2023, her co-authored journal article Street Art as a Vehicle for Environmental Public Communication (Australian National University), along with the accompanying short film, highlighted her unique ability to translate abstract issues into public artworks that invite both emotional and intellectual engagement.

She sees hope not as decoration but as a methodology, a way of building agency and emotional resonance in the face of systemic overwhelm. This perspective has positioned her as a creative translator in climate communication, partnering with organisations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Upper Murrumbidgee Waterwatch to develop visual tools that support behavioural change, community participation and citizen science.

In 2024, Bohie became the first artist commissioned to paint the walls of the Gandel Atrium at the National Museum of Australia for an internationally curated exhibition. Her work has also extended globally through ecological art residencies and exhibitions across Australia, Mexico, North America, Japan and England.

Today, her practice is a living inquiry into the tensions between capitalism and nature, self and system, beauty and disruption. Through collaborative authorship and embodied research, she invites us to reimagine not just what we see but how we see, and who we might become when we return to care, creativity and connection.