A new multimedia installation from the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University shines a light on lives lost at Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Spring City, writes Mike Newall for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The institute partnered with community activists who are either people with disabilities or have disabled family members as well as a range of artists to honor the lives that were extinguished at Pennhurst and to paint a fuller picture of them.
The installation, File/Life: We Remember Stories of Pennhurst, will run from April 20 to 23 at the Arch Street Meeting House. It is supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
In addition to remembering those who died, two former Pennhurst residents will tell their own stories.
While the story of the infamous hospital has been told many times by historians and scholars, “what felt missing for us was the perspective of people with skin in the game,” said Lisa Sonneborn, director of media arts and culture at the Institute on Disabilities.
Those involved in the installation hope that focusing on the voices of individuals can help people better understand just how huge the loss at Pennhurst was.
Read more about the installation in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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