Oxford Vaccine Group's 30th year celebrated with exhibition

'The Deadly Six: Oxford’s Battle with the Microbial World', created by Scottish artist Angela Palmer, will be revealed on September 26 at Oxford University's Museum of Natural History.

It features six three-dimensional sculptures, all made from English willow, representing diseases for which the OVG has developed vaccines, namely pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid, Covid, malaria, and Ebola.

Angela Palmer (Image: University of Oxford) Five of the sculptures will be suspended in the museum's How Evolution Works gallery, while the sixth, a 2.4m long representation of Ebola weighing 75kg, will lie at floor level.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said: "For 30 years, OVG has been working at the forefront of vaccine research in the fight against these diseases and many others, saving millions of lives, and helping people of all ages live longer, happier, and healthier lives.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group (Image: Dan Burn-Forti) "It is really exciting to see Angela bring this to life in her artwork."

Ms Palmer, whose sculptures are displayed in museums worldwide, was inspired to use willow after seeing three-dimensional shapes woven from straw while on holiday.

She said: "One particularly reminded me of the meningitis bacteria form, and it struck that I could explore creating the entire installation in willow."

Ms Palmer enlisted the help of two of the UK's foremost weavers, Jenny Crisp and Issy Wilkes, to bring her vision to life.

Issy Wilkes, Jenny Crisp, and Angela Palmer (Image: University of Oxford) The sculptures were created from the artist’s drawings and scientific illustrations.

The installation also features sound, with a speaker inserted into the sculpture representing the malaria parasite.

It plays the high-pitched 'whine' of the Anopheles Funestus mosquito, one of the most lethal in the world, on a loop, pausing for 10 seconds every minute to symbolise the fact that a child under the age of five dies of malaria every 60 seconds.

The exhibition will open on September 26 (Image: University of Oxford) Rachel Parle, interim head of exhibitions at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said: "The Museum of Natural History is both a centre for scientific study at Oxford and a space for the public to engage with science, so we’re delighted to be able to celebrate the success of the OVG with this unique meeting of science and artwork."

The installation, partly funded by the University of Oxford’s Gardens, Libraries, and Museums division, will be open to the public from September 26 to January 5.

Professor Pollard added: "I’m hopeful that a great many of the public will visit and be able to engage with our work, and with vaccines in a positive way."