NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE HOSTS "IMAGES OF THE LESS-THAN-PERFECT BODY" PROGRAM IN CONJUNCTION WITH "LAURA FERGUSON: THE VISIBLE SKELETON SERIES" EXHIBITION AND VSA ARTS FESTIVAL

The National Museum of Health and Medicine invites the public to attend "Images of the Less-Than-Perfect Body," a program held in conjunction with the opening of the museum's newest exhibition, "Laura Ferguson: The Visible Skeleton Series." Co-sponsored by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the program will take place at the museum on Sat., June 12 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. as part of the four-day 2004 International VSA arts Festival. An opening reception will follow the program. Admission and parking are free.

The program will focus on how the "less-than-perfect" body is portrayed in art and will include a slide show of various artists' representations, panel discussions, and an audience forum. Participants will also have the opportunity to view "Laura Ferguson: The Visible Skeleton Series," which includes 50 multi-layered paintings based on medical images of Ferguson's own scoliotic skeleton, an array of source materials that explain artist's visualization process, and several spinal specimens from the museum's anatomical collections.

"In a culture that pressures people with unusual anatomies to hide or feel ashamed of their bodies, art is one of the few arenas in which the 'less-than-perfect' body can be portrayed with its own beauty, grace, sensuality, or originality," said Ferguson. "This program will explore such representations in art, medicine, and contemporary culture."

In addition to Ferguson, panelists will include Alice Dreger, Ph.D, medical historian and author of the recently published "One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal," who will talk about the use of imagery of unusual anatomies in the medical context, and Svetlana Mintcheva, director of the Arts Advocacy Project for the NCAC, who will talk about shifting socio-cultural attitudes to the body in art. Other disabled artists working with self-portraiture are expected to participate. Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., museum director, will serve as moderator.

The 2004 International VSA arts Festival will consist of more than 20 public programs celebrating the work of 2,000 performance and visual artists with disabilities, that will be held in multiple public venues across Washington, D.C. from June 9-12. Sponsored by VSA arts, an organization dedicated to "creating a society where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts," the festival is held every five years in a different city across the nation. For information, visit www.vsartsfestival.org.

The NCAC, founded in 1974 and based in New York, is an alliance of 50 non-profit organizations that work to educate the public about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose it. The organization is co-sponsoring "Images of the Less-Than-Perfect Body" due to its concern over a disturbing current tendency to suppress representations of the human body in public spaces and even in some galleries. For information about NCAC, visit www.ncac.org.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine was established in 1862 when U.S. Army Brig. Gen. William Alexander Hammond, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, issued orders that directed all Union Army medical officers "to collect, and to forward to the office of the Surgeon General all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of military medicine or surgery."

Today, the museum is an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), a tri-service Army, Navy, and Air Force agency of the Department of Defense with a threefold mission of consultation, education, and research. Within the AFIP there are 22 subspecialty departments with more than 120 pathologists. The board of the AFIP includes the surgeons general of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service.

The museum's more than 24 million specimens and artifacts were the first in the country to be registered by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark and it is the only museum collection in Washington, D.C. with this status. The Secretary of the Interior, who has designated only 2,340 districts, sites, buildings, and structures for listing in the National Register, selected the museum's collection because of its "exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States."

The museum is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Docent led tours are offered to walk-in visitors at 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. The web site is www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum and the telephone number is 202-782-2200. Admission and parking are free.