The Last Year

In the early 1980s, tens of thousands of cattle in the UK began developing neurological symptoms and quickly perished from a newly diagnosed brain condition called Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The putative infecting agent was a prion, a small protein that causes others surrounding it to unfold in the brain, making them dysfunctional. Unfortunately, humans who ingest the meat of prion-infected cattle can also develop a similar neurological condition called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). 

Given my research on bovine methane levels, I have become very interested in zoonotic illnesses, particularly livestock-influenced ones. 

The Last Year consists of five paintings that explore the last year of a patient with terminal illness. As a medical volunteer and assistant, I have spoken to many patients with various medical conditions. The series also reflects on some of the stages many patients with chronic illnesses go through.