Atresia

This past year, I was lucky enough to spend several weeks rotating on a pediatric surgery service. During this time, I was struck by the immense courage and perseverance of the parents  whose newborn infants were spending the first days and weeks and months of their lives in the  NICU and the operating room. The tension in this tragic, but necessary, rending apart was the  inspiration for this piece.

The Hand That Feeds

In the tumultuous political climate of this country, reproductive rights have come under fire in  more ways than one. Between the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the newly tenuous legality  of IVF in Alabama, there is what seems like an omnipresent threat to anyone who might one  day conceive. This piece was inspired by the urge to protect against violent threats to  individual agency.

Olivia Blanchard is currently a fourth-year medical student. Since she was a  little pre-med studying Slavic languages and literature in undergrad, she has made an effort to combine her passions for science, biology, and medicine with her deep love for art and creative expression. Much to her surprise, her STEM-directed life overflows with inspiration and sentiment that feel far better-suited to the world of the abstract than to the scientific method. She has enjoyed exploring the absurd and the grotesque through oil painting, digital art, and embroidery both as an expression of her love for the arts and as a way to process the stress and  excitement of medical school.