If and Only If: A Journal of Body Image and Eating Disorders Winter 2015 | Page 22

As Laura Madeline Wiseman eloquently describes:

Leave of Absence: An Illustrated Guide to Common Garden Affection is a collaborative book with art and illustrations by Sally Deskins, whose lush look at the body and nature in this collection offers a rich pallet on the human form and these tall creatures that stand among us. Moving from fairy tale to children’s book, film representation to fact, it tells the love story of two trees as they fall from a growing forest into the outstretched limbs of the other. Deskins’ body and tree prints and drawings weave a rich ecology of place to show us that even when we’re reaching away from what we know, our lives are actually becoming more entwined, binding us to what we love.