Below-Knee Prosthetic with U.S. Marine Corps and Purple Art by Daniel Horkey. (Photo courtesy NMHM website)
The National Museum of Health & Medicine offers a diverse array of permanent and rotating exhibits and events on the grounds of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. On display until November 28, 2010 is “Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements,” named as one of this week’s “Art Picks” by the Washington City Paper.
Reviewer John Anderson calls the items on display “an artistic look at the role orthopedic surgeons play in the recovery of veterans and civilians during armed conflict. Created by service members, doctors, and civilians, some work is naïve and precious, while others possess a fantastic realism and movingly document the recovery from trauma. When so much of military action is trivialized by the nightly news and glorified in cinema, this exhibition personally confronts the realities of the veterans, surgeons, and civilians caught in the crossfire of war.”
Additional art installations are at the University of Maryland Health Sciences Library and Southern Management Corporation Campus Center in Baltimore through Veterans Day. Whether you’re visiting or staying with a loved one at Walter Reed, traveling through the DC area, or a local looking for a powerful artistic display of the sacrifices of our Troops, we encourage you to explore this exhibit all that the National Museum of Health and Medicine has to offer.
