"Healing in Community " (2023)
Photomural by Rachel Fawn Alban
NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine Community Mural Project,
Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Hospital, Roosevelt Island, NY.
“Healing in Community” is a high-resolution photomural printed on polytab. It features 35 black and white portraits of community members at Coler hospital including residents, volunteers, staff, and everyone’s favorite community member, MoMo the therapy dog. 🐾 The deliberate use of black and white photography highlights each person as an individual while coming together to represent the Coler community. My hope is for people to pause at the mural, look into their eyes, connect, and see their humanity.
During a time when it feels like there is so much division in this world, what would happen if we all really saw each other and recognized each person’s humanity? What would happen if we recognized that we all have a role to play in each other's healing and well being?
As part of the process to create this mural, I visited Coler weekly to engage participants in hands-on photography projects including cell phone photography, editing, and digital printing. In the fourth week, everyone was invited to make their own art while I did the photo portraits for the mural using professional lighting and a makeshift backdrop.
The weekly photography engagement visits were an important part of the process. I don’t think the portraits would have been as strong without this time spent building trust. Some of the participant artwork will be exhibited at the hospital in the vitrines facing the mural in 2024.
Read the press release here.
Above and below images from the summer workshops by Emireth Herrera and me.
This project was organized by NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine Program and Residency Unlimited,
supported by Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
Below: Installation images by me, images from ribbon cutting ceremony on 11/30 by Lois Stavsky and me.
