War and musculoskeletal injury prompt artistic expression

Wartime experiences not only affect the military personnel and their loved ones, but the physicians and medical teams who treat them. As a tribute to injured troops and families, civilians, and the orthopaedic surgeons who are caring and have cared for them, the AAOS is seeking entries to a unique juried art exhibition: Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements. A cash award will be given.

Wounded in Action celebrates those heroes who have sustained orthopaedic injuries as a result of serving our country in war. From World War II to Korea to Viet Nam, from the Gulf War to Afghanistan to Iraq, thousands of military troops serving in the United States have severe musculoskeletal injuries.

This exhibition also recognizes those orthopaedic surgeons who, throughout history, have risked their own safety to care for our troops, to save lives and limbs, to advance medical treatments, and to conduct research and learn from war in order to better serve those who sustain orthopaedic trauma.

The exhibition is open to artists in the following three categories:

• Military personnel who have sustained orthopaedic/musculoskeletal injuries in any war or family members of any age (children included) who have been affected by those injuries
• Orthopaedic surgeons who have provided medical care for wounded warriors throughout history, either in the military, in the Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program, in the course of their practice, or through orthopaedic research
• Artists and injured civilians of any age whose lives have been affected by war and have been touched in some way by the loss of extremity and/or other musculoskeletal injuries of war

Art must be original work. Eligible media include: paintings and drawings (oil, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, charcoal, etc.) fine art prints (lithographs, etching, intaglio, woodcuts, etc.), giclée, photography, graphics, cyber art, sculpture, glass, mosaics, textiles, crafts, functional art, and mixed media.

The artwork should illustrate (but need not be figurative or representational) some aspect of the artist’s feelings about musculoskeletal war injuries, their effect on injured troops and their families, the importance of excellent and compassionate trauma care, and their own relationships to these issues.

There is no entry fee, and artists may submit up to 3 digital images online until Oct. 15, 2009, at www.woundedinactionart.org

To learn more, visit the Web site or contact Sandy Gordon, public relations director, at (847) 384-4030 or gordon@aaos.org