WE ARE SORRY Melbourne (2009)

WE ARE SORRY (2009) is an installation made up of two panels with edited excerpts from the 2008 landmark apologies to Indigenous peoples made by Prime Ministers Stephen Harper (Canada) and Kevin Rudd (Australia). Done as part of the Laneway Commissions, the two commercial sign vinyl panels were installed side-by-side on the façade of the Citipower substation in Melbourne. The installation remained on the building for several years.

This work commemorates the public apologies these heads of state made to Indian Residential School survivors in Canada and members of the "Stolen Generations" in Australia. By presenting edited versions of their words at a scale that competes with large outdoor advertisements, and in colours that match the tone of the men's skin, this work calls for accountability and follow through from their governments after these public acknowledgements of their wrong doings. 

An additional part of this work was making the We Are Sorry documentary with Indigenous filmmaker Daniel King. For this piece I interviewed five diverse Indigenous leaders and we talked about the value of the two apologies as well as the process and space needed for reconciliation.