WE ARE SORRY in LALAKENIS (2016)

WE ARE SORRY in LALAKENIS is collaborative piece with artist and hereditary Chief Beau Dick from the 'Na̱mg̱is First Nation. 

In 2016 an exhibition titled Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity was held at the Belkin Art Gallery commemorating the Awalaskenis II: Journey of Truth and Unity Caravan. The exhibition documented the journey and became a forum for Indigenous solidarity; a space to celebrate, with performances and gatherings, while summarizing and historicizing the previous on-the-road activism. 

In 2014, a large fragment of WE ARE SORRY travelled as part of this Awalaskenis II Caravan from UBC, Vancouver to Ottawa. It served as a support for copper shields used in the copper-breaking ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

In 2016, for Lalakenis, Chief Dick asked if I would make a large panel with the entire edited apology, as opposed to the smaller piece I'd provided previously. This panel became a framing device and ground cover for an array of cultural belongings and delineated a space of Indigenous sovereignty in the Belkin Art Gallery. 

Awalaskenis II pre-dated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action but was itself a call to action. Where a primary function of Awalaskenis II was to interface with the news media, Lalakenis was able to reverberate this call in the more private and ceremonial space of the University’s public art gallery exhibition.