The CDC contains an ‘Outbreak’ of cultural curiosities
The centers’ Global Health Odyssey Museum looks at the long-term societal effects of diseases such as AIDS, the Black Death, Spanish Flu and more.
Did the bubonic plague extinguish Europes feudal caste system and trigger the rise of the middle-class bourgeoisie? Did yellow fever end the trafficking of African slaves to the New World? Did the Spanish flu halt World War I? According to Outbreak: Plagues that Changed History currently on view at the CDCs Global Health Odyssey Museum, the answers are maybe, maybe and maybe. And although its assuredly an oversimplification to attribute some of historys biggest events to any single cause, Outbreak puts forth the intriguing notion that many of the defining currents of human social and cultural history around the globe have at least been influenced by some of the planets smallest inhabitants.
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Outbreak is the artistic brainchild of painter and illustrator Bryn Barnard. Barnards 2005 book of the same name targets middle school children with lush gouache and oil paintings that bring to life key moments in world history. It shows how a slew of unimaginably destructive epidemiological disasters gave us the world we live in now. The current CDC exhibit comprises Barnards original paintings along with maps and text borrowed from the book. Its the first collected public showing of the work, and as is typical for CDC exhibitions, Outbreak aims to make explicit connections between broad health issues and daily life.’’