My name is Makenna Browne, I am a senior Biochemistry, Molecular Biology major, and I have decided to focus my protein portrait on Flavivirus causing Yellow Fever. I have a family history of artistic ability, but didn’t start experimenting till high school. My favorite thing to draw is hands, but I’ve always had an interest in learning to draw eyes.
Before COVID-19, I spent the majority of my time at Oregon State University in Dr. Daniel Rockey’s laboratory working on Chlamydial research. At the beginning of the term, our PhD student Steven Carrell shared a photograph of an eye, but the iris had been photoshopped to be the COVID-19 virus. I found the photograph inspiring, and decided I wanted to focus my protein portrait on a virus that has an impact on the eye.
The WHO described yellow fever as “an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients.” My idea is I can combine the effect of Flavivirus and an eye to create a powerful image. In the past I have drawn with graphite on paper, and painted with oil on canvas, but I recently decided I want to attempt this project using colored pencils on paper.
I (eye?) really like how you are juxtaposing sensory inputs and intellectual understanding. Yellow fever, thank goodness, is mostly in the history books. For those folks who were affected, the yellowing of the eyes must have been a haunting reality. I think your art will honor those ancestors whose tragic experiences helped us to learn what we know about mosquito-borne diseases. Here’s a museum post about the roles of Walter Reed and Jesse Lazear in that history: https://armyhistory.org/major-walter-reed-and-the-eradication-of-yellow-fever/ It reads almost like a guide to the current pandemic: Mitigation in the absence of a vaccine.