Sorry

Revolutionary forms that encourage critical thought are the tours de force driving this Biennale. Artists, Sam Durant and Tamy Ben-Tor, amongst many others exhibited at the MCA explore the issues of individual societies in globalist discourse that form a critical socio-political and cultural commentary. Their work presents individuals’ and groups’ social concerns and the various approaches used to make them publicly available. In a similar fashion, Canadian artist, Cathy Busby, in her show, “Sorry”, running concurrently with the Biennale, presents works that confront social concerns relating to the global phenomenon of public apologies.

“Sorry” consists of twenty seven large scale reproductions of media images of apologise made by prominent public figures. The nature of apologies is here examined as an appeal for pardon, an attempt to arouse forgiveness for actions which assumed controversial, even tragic consequences. Naming only a few, the works’ subjects include Donald Rumsfeld, Cherie Blair, Prince Harry and, most pertinent to their context in Sydney, Kevin Rudd.

“The faces in Cathy Busby’s Sorry, however, suggest something other than truth and reconciliation is at play. By focusing on the mouths of her subjects – the “trembling lip” that warrants the sincerity of their remorse – she draws our attention to its artificiality: to the apology as a theatrical production.”

[ Robin Metcalfe, ‘Up Close and Personal’ (2005), in Cathy Busby, Sorry (exhibition catalogue), Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, 2008, p 63 ]

Busby’s works recognise the spectacular nature of public apologies and also deploy a subversive message concealed within their blurry aesthetic. Blown up from small scale media images, derived from film, print and digital sources, Busby’s reproductions are distorted by pixelation and colour fragmentation. In order for the images to be clearly visible, they must be viewed from a distance. The audience must take a ‘step back’ from the works and in doing so, reflect upon the issues confronted by the apologetic utterances depicted.

The socio-political concerns addressed within these works are elaborated upon within the exhibition’s accompanying catalogue but insight into the works intentions are accessible from a glance. The decorum and respectability that motivate apologies and the humility promoted by the word ‘sorry’ are not always, as Busby recognises, sufficient for achieving reconciliation or arriving at the truth. Busby acknowledges that planning and establishing ground-work and undertaking practical measures, as the most significant components to achieving reconciliation. “ Sorry” exhibits revolutionary forms that encourage its audience to be critical and interrogate the true value and meaning of public apologies.

For more info on “Sorry”, check out: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/research/researchcentres/ccap/events/event_0014.html