Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains unveiled a new art installation titled “Signs of Compassion,” celebrating poetry through photography. Comprised of 30 photographs depicting people of all ages and backgrounds reciting the Emily Dickinson poem, “If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking,” using American sign language (ASL), the exhibition seeks to offer hope and encouragement to patients, staff members and visitors.
Photographer Miggs Burroughs of Westport, Connecticut, used a technique called lenticular transition to show movement throughout the work of art. When a viewer stands in front of the photos and moves from side to side, the subjects appear to sign a word or phrase from the poem.
“It is a dance. You are actually dancing with a piece of art,” explained Burroughs. “The first line of the poem reads, ”˜If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”™
“My hope is for people to engage and to remove discomfort, worries and whatever pain they are experiencing for a while.”
A not-for-profit, acute rehabilitation hospital founded in 1915 through an endowment from philanthropist John Masterson Burke, Burke is the only hospital in Westchester County dedicated solely to adult rehabilitation medicine.
