Apology Dice consists of participants, three large dice, and a blanket.
Each die is cast one at a time, and in order, to form a sentence. The letters of the first die begin with a capital letter. The second die has no punctuation. The word or words of the third die end in a period. ‘I am / so / sorry,’ ‘We are / not / sorry,’ ‘They are / very tired / of this,’ ….
The participant reads the sentence aloud and responds. Is this how they feel? Is this the opposite of what they feel?
The Indian Residential Schools are a living tragedy for Aboriginal people. This work is not intended to make light of this dark legacy but to be a disarming vehicle to prompt discussion. Apology Dice are only to be rolled in an environment of contemplation and conversation. Participants must be willing to share and discuss their thoughts and feelings.

Artists:

David Garneau (Métis) is Associate Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter of road kill and drive-by landscapes, Métis themes, maps, comics, and quilts. Garneau is also a curator and writer most interested in the collision of nature and culture, metaphysics and materialism, and in contemporary Indigenous identities. He has curated large group, two-person, and solo exhibitions, and written numerous catalogues, including essays on Lyndal Osborn; Peter von Tiesenhausen; Tanya Harnett; Michael Campbell; Linda Duvall; David Hoffos; Eric Cameron and Chris Gardiner.

Clement Yeh holds a BFA in Drawing from the Alberta College of Art and Design and an MFA in Sculpture from Concordia University. His interests range widely across beauty, social injustice, environmentalism, craft, feminism, human rights, design, eroticism, pop culture, science fiction/fantasy, and whatever else catches his fancy. He finds daily inspiration everywhere around him, and always seeks to make contemporary visual art accessible to the general public. Despite the many hurdles and instability often associated with the artist's vocation, Clement makes art because that is the only path that he could ever be happy pursuing. Knowing this compels him to passionately support his current art community as well as the next generation of artists whenever he can. Complementing his personal studio practice is Makerbros.com, his Montreal-based custom prop/sculpture company in partnership with sculptor Ian Langohr, which offers him an alternate source of income, a place to continually hone his technical skills, and another platform from which to share his work with new audiences. He is looking forward to working on more collaborative projects, such as Apology Dice, that explore the conversation around social inequalities in Canada.

Ayumi Goto is a performance artist based in Kelowna, Okanagan Nation territory. Born in Canada, she draws upon her Japanese heritage to trouble sedimented notions of nation-building, cultural belonging, and structural racism in her creative work.

Over a course of 105 days in 2013, Goto ran 1568.5 km around communities in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario to recognize and pay homage to the Journey of Nishiyuu, in which six young Cree men led by guide Isaac Kawapit, walked from Whapmagoostui, Northern Quebec to Ottawa to raise awareness of Aboriginal issues. Goto reinforced the walkers’ laborious efforts to bring attention to the Idle No More movement, as well as attempting to transform her own relationship to the land.

Ayumi's installation at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre opened Saturday April 26, 2017 at 7 pm, in this exhibition Goto explored her experience through the daily poetic and visual responses she created.  Ayumi also served as a visiting artist in residence at AlgomaU in April 2014.

Since the early 1980's, L'Hirondelle has created, performed and presented work in a variety of artistic disciplines, including: music, performance art, theatre, performance poetry, storytelling, installation and new media. In the early 1990's, she began a parallel career as an arts consultant/advisor and programmer, cultural strategist/activist, and director/producer of both independent works and projects within national artist-run networks. L’Hirondelle’s various activities have also found her working in the Canadian independent music industry, as well as various educational institutions, the prison system, First Nations bands, tribal councils and governmental funding agencies, at both the provincial and federal levels.

Why the Caged Bird Sings: Here I am is a multi-video piece which incorporates video and audio of incarcerated Cree women from Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge a correctional facility in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The exhibition opened Thursday February 27, 2014 at the Art Gallery of Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario.

Chris Bose is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and film-maker.  Officially a member of the N’laka’pamux/Secwepemc Nations, formerly known as the Thompson people of the Spuzzum area, Chris Bose was born in Merritt, B.C. in 1970.

Bose has read and performed at universities, theatres and coffeehouses from Victoria to Montreal, as well as at the BC Festival of the Arts as a literary delegate to the Talking Stick Aboriginal Arts Festival in Vancouver and the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto. Bose is also a workshop facilitator of community arts events, digital storytelling, art workshops with people of all ages and backgrounds, curatorial work for First Nations art shows and projects, mixed-media productions, film, audio and video recording and editing, and more.

Journey Women was an art exhibit of large-scale; body-map images depicting the healing experiences of eight Aboriginal women created in a three-day workshop. The collaborative research project between Minwaashin Lodge- Aboriginal Women’s Support Centre and Concordia University aimed to gain an understanding of the conditions that contribute or challenge Aboriginal women in their process of healing from violence, and the long-term impacts of that violence. The workshop was facilitated by art therapist Lucy Lu and Felice Yuen, Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences of Concordia University. 

The process of body-mapping was adapted for the exploration of the healing experiences of indigenous women, and the model of mapping out the life journey was adapted from a linear viewpoint to a circular life-cycle to fit the indigenous life perspective. The workshop incorporated traditional indigenous ceremony of prayer, smudging, drumming, and singing which were led by the women; as well as movement and grounding activities, poetry and art creation.
In pairs, women helped trace their body outlines to how they see themselves today. Then they created an outline of another image that would represent their support network – people, agencies, events, spiritual supports, and anything else that has given them strength. They used colours and symbols to depict how they have felt supported by their support network. They filled in their own outlines with the colours and textures that depicted their pain as well as their healing. The outline of themselves and their support were placed in communication with each other and showed how each woman views their relationship to their support networks. This process supported indigenous women to map out their journey towards healing and identifying with other positive and affirming aspects of themselves and their culture; besides the pain, hurt, abuse, violence, and cultural assimilation.
The women were then asked to create symbols depicting different aspects of their life journey. Using the traditional life-cycle, based on the medicine wheel starting from the right hand corner and moving clockwise, women mapped out their origins; the challenges they have overcome in their life, where they are now, and where they see themselves going. They also marked their points of power on their body with a personal symbol that meant something to their identities. Women were encouraged to choose how to depict their self portraits- add words, or a personal slogan that gives meaning to them and their journey. Throughout the process, women were encouraged to share to the level they felt comfortable and they were always reminded that they could share their story anonymously in order protect their privacy.The exhibit represents the journey of courageous women mapping their stories to raise awareness around violence against indigenous women, while celebrating the resilience and strength of these women on their healing journeys.