Crocodile Tears | Video Installation |2018
On Institutional Apologies
The installation consists of 50 different public, institutional apologies from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Germany, and South Africa to underline the global scale of this phenomena.
It seems that the white male in position of power has this extraordinary ability to not only to commit atrocities of historic magnitude. They also carry their hegemony in displaying public apology for their wrongdoings, which it further reinforces their position power and control.
The most disturbing part of the public apology is that it creates a sense of false security.
For this reason, the title of the installation is Crocodile Tears.
Historically crocodile’s tear has been symbolic of the concept of repentance.
Biblical stories talk about crocodile crying for their prays but also the time that the crocodile pretends to be in distress to lure prey into a false sense of security.
Drawing from biblical references and stories compelled me to also choose seven bodies to represent the variety of the atrocities. Regardless of being religious or not, the seven deadly sin, envy, pride, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, and wrath can be underlying reasons for committing many crimes and wrongdoings. Even those who are not religious when asking for forgiveness, enter a spiritual realm. The concept of asking for forgiveness after committing a crime is another false hope that thrives only through religion.
As such, public apology creates a false sense of security. Breach of trust is intertwined with the reason for offering q public apology. People who commit such crime rarely come forward on their own. They are often caught and apprehended, thus asking to be trusted one more time.
Crimes have been happening for a long time and as public apologies becoming another norm and as atrocities vary in many form and faces. The vocabulary is minimal.
I want to say that words do not justify the severity of the crime.
While I am not saying that apology is useless. I am asking for ways of expressing regret beyond the famous words of sorry, apologize, regret.
I am also becoming increasingly curious to find out who feels better after an apology is expressed the offended or the offender?
Sketches:
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Public apologies are usually about indefensible wrongdoings and unforgivable crimes.
Since often a public apology is offered as a result of wrongdoings enforced form the powerful on the powerless. The person in power then apologizes publicly which, in a way supplements that power.
The three words that printed on the tissues are Sorry, Apology, and Regret. These three words sum up the entire vocabulary used in 50 apologies read in my installation and many more apologies that are not included in my archive. An eye-opening disparity. Excuses keep coming, and the words are not going anywhere. As the number of public apologies increases, there are not many words to express the deplore for these offenses.
Nov. 30, 2018