Top: 22″x19″; Bottom: 22’x20’
Mixed Media
In Collaboration with Jackie Lemaire, Department of Genetics, UW-Madison

My art piece is inspired by the factors of cyanobacteria. I created a fish creature based off a pumpkinseed sunfish, setting her in an algae filled background modeled after Lake Mendota . Within my piece I have chosen to add black infectious vines all around her, representing the cyanobacteria “Gloeotrichia”; A filamentous greenish black bateria that is highly infection and in some cases deadly due to its production of a toxin called “Microcystin-LR”.The infection of cyanobacteria leads to murky water, blocking sunlight to aquatic wildlife and eventually dying off to create lakes of decomposing bacteria. This deprives the water of oxygen, leading to the death of the wildlife and habitat. In cases of toxic cyanobacterial blooms the toxin attacks protein phosphatases in the cytoplasm of liver cells, leading to damage and death of liver cells. The water becomes harmful to all animals,including humans. The bacteria causes diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, recumbency and fatality in animals, and blistering around the mouth and pneumonia in addition to previously listed symptoms, in humans. 

As an artist, I’ve always been known to create things out of the ordinary. I love horror, anatomy, and all things creepy. My usual pieces usually include aspects of gore, with my favorite being creating interpretive drawings of human hearts. My skills also extend into SFX makeup, involving realistic horror. When taking on this project I wanted to bring aspects of the unusual in a topic that’s often seen as serene and beautiful. I focused on infectious cyanobacteria for exactly that reason, to draw attention to aspects often overlooked. I create because it’s a form of expression when feelings can’t be put into words.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, I want my creations to be those words for when verbalization simply is not enough.