Shadowlife 2012-2013
Just a quick Friday afternoon post to share a video that was made recently about a group show I was curated into that toured through Asia in 2012-2013. It was a fantastic show curated by Djon Mundine and Natalie King. I was privileged enough to have the opportunity to travel to Singapore with the show. Loved the show, hated the trip! It was the worst trip of my entire life. I arrived sick with a terrible flu, was hospitalised because of an accident that is now affectionately referred to as the Great Boom Gate Incident of 2013 and contracted Giardia (essentially nuclear gastro) just in time for the flight home. Anyway, nasty trip details aside, I was thrilled to be included. Here's the video:
My artwork that toured with the show included my Not Really Aboriginal series and Seventy Times Seven Video. I don't think I've posted the Seventy Times Seven video before, so here goes. I hope you enjoy.
SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN
2011, HD Video, 10:22 mins.
Seventy Times Seven is a single channel video of seven Australian Aboriginal community members repeating the mantra, I forgive you.
Forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself. It is a release from the burden of anger and pain. When you choose to forgive, you choose to live in the present and the future instead of the past. It does not mean to forget but it does mean to release and go on.
I was a very broken person. When I look around at my community, the Aboriginal community, I see a lot of broken people. For me to stop being disempowered by the people and events in my life, my parents and my ancestors’ lives, I had to forgive. Forgiveness is the way to reclaim power lost. It doesn't happen on it's own, you must choose to forgive.
Everyone in this film is Aboriginal. We are choosing to forgive. Mercy is for those who don’t deserve it.
