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Nevada woman's Alpha-1 family tree wins the Foundation's Alpha-1 art contest for Facebook friends
Amber Albanese is no stranger to Alpha-1.
She has several family members affected, including herself.
Albanese is an Alpha-1 support group leader in Las Vegas, NV, helping other Alphas with their daily struggles.
All of this contributed to the feeling behind her drawing that has won the Alpha-1 Foundation’s August art contest, announced and hosted entirely on our Facebook page.
We invited everyone viewing our Facebook page, Alpha Friend, to send us a photo of any original artwork they’d created with their own hands. “What Alpha-1 means to me” was the theme we asked for.
Her winning artwork, with a dreamlike impressionistic feeling, was drawn with pastels. It is packed with symbolism, of Alpha-1, of genetic health conditions, and of her family.
Albanese says the haunting finished piece you see on this page took her roughly 20 hours or so, working on and off.
This drawing shows members of her family, a “family tree,” a representation of human lungs and a long chain of genetic DNA structure in the tree roots.
She says her drawing expresses the fact that Alpha-1 is a genetic condition and also her feeling that Alpha-1 has impacted her life in many ways.
