SORRY Halifax (2005)

In the early 2000’s I began following the emerging media spectacle of public apologies coming from the mouths of CEOs, politicians, sports stars and others. Some of these apologies were of major historical significance while many were salacious in nature and of little public consequence. My work aimed to distinguish what was important from what was not in this blur of fleeting media moments.

I first began collecting newspaper apologies after finishing my dicertatcion on the topic of pain and peoples responses to it in 1999. In 2005, I presented a series of 44-inch wide prints at MacMaster Museum of Art in a billboard style installation entitled Sorry. 

With this version of Sorry, at Saint Mary's, there was more wall space to work with than the previous version. I enlarged the prints and bracketed the images with a frieze with quotes from the apologizers that circled the gallery. Beige lettering on the pink background referenced the white fleshiness of the dominant skin tone.