We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.
Tony Albert / Girramay/Yidinyji/Kuku Yalanji peoples / Australia b.1981 / Sorry 2008 / Found kitsch objects applied to vinyl letters / The James C. Sourris am Collection. Purchased 2008 with funds from James C. Sourris through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Tony Albert
Tony AlbertSorry 2008
Not Currently on Display
13 February 2008 is an historic date etched into Australia’s national memory. On this day, Australia witnessed one of its most overtly optimistic displays of unity and national pride, when former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, offered a formal apology to Indigenous Australians. It was a day when, in the eyes of many, the country grew up.
Here, Tony Albert has captured this outpouring of emotion. He introduces us to a forest of faces, each sharing elements of history with those stolen from their people, land and culture. Each represents a false identity, manufactured black faces made to fit white society.
The artist also revels in the sense of irony in the work, with the impetus of such a momentous and joyous event being an apology. On yet another level, Albert presents us simply with a word — bold letters on a wall — indicative of an Indigenous Australian response to the apology. While it was an important symbolic gesture, many Indigenous Australians are waiting to see real change within society before fully accepting the Prime Minister’s apology and speech as more than words.
‘From its conception it was always intended to be installed in various formations. Sorry was originally commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery in 2008 for the exhibition ‘Contemporary Australia: Optimism’; given that it coincided with the Australian Government’s Apology to the Stolen Generations, Sorry was intended to make a positive statement. Five years on, I have seen very little improvement for Aboriginal people in this country. Sorry is just a word which means nothing if it is not backed up by real outcomes. By turning the work on its head I’m asking the viewer to consider the very real situation that Aboriginal people still find themselves in today.’1
Endnotes:
1. Tony Albert, Interview with Bruce McLean. ‘Tony Albert, Girramay people : An interview’ in My country, I still call Australia home : Contemporary art from Black Australia [exhibition catalogue]. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2013, col. ill., p.142-144.
Tony Albert was born in Townsville and raised in Brisbane. He is a descendant of the Girramay, Yidinji and Kuku Yalanji peoples. Albert completed a visual arts degree at Griffith University in Brisbane, majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. He worked as an intern and exhibitions project officer at QAGOMA during the 2000s.
Albert interrogates the representation of Aboriginal people and culture through a mix of humour, darkness and poignancy. His works often recontextualise objects from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, kitsch items featuring caricatured depictions of Aboriginal people and their culture. As a child, Albert began collecting these objects as a way of connecting with family.
Discussion Questions
1. Albert states that ‘sorry is just a word’. What are the limitations of words?
2. Language is a powerful tool that can be used for a vast number of purposes (i.e. to entertain, to persuade, to instruct). How does language shape relationships and influence a nation?
3. The act of apologising is a fundamental skill that stems from a person’s conscience. Does a national apology come require a collective conscience? How do you know if an apology has been meaningful or effective?
Activities
Tony Albert refers to the objects he assembles into his wall-based text works as ‘Aboriginalia‘. He began collecting these objects as a child when visiting Op shops with his family and continues to collect objects online. Find a collection of objects or images to create your own text work. Think about the relationship between the objects that you collect and the word/s you create. Look at the image gallery below for inspiration.