Exposure of the Heart: A Photographer's Year in an Institution

by Rebecca Busselle

This is the beautifully written, moving, and disquieting story of the year Rebecca Busselle spent as an observer in a large New York State institution for the retarded.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1989

Reviews

[Gwen Strauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving account about a State Mental Institution which has since closed its doors-- but the book gives a powerful account of what life was like for the people who found themselves locked up in those buildings-- written in 1989-- it's part of the research I am currently doing try to learn about the history of disability rights in America.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intensely emotional story about one woman's experience photographing and documenting the institutionalized mentally retarded. A disturbing and heartwarming story that leaves you haunted by sad realities of the throwaways in society and how we fool ourselves into believing they are well cared for; and leaves you touched by the acts of selfless people who choose to do what they can, even if seemingly so little in the face of our society's dysfunction, to bring joy and meaning to the institutionalized and the marginalized's lives.