UNVEILING ‘SIGNS OF COMPASSION’

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.