Apology Dice - collaborative conversation about reconciliation

• Main Author: Yeh, Clement
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Digital Commons @ TRU Library 2020
• Subjects: Canadian History; Indigenous Education; Indigenous Studies; Sculpture; Canada; Indian; First Nations
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.tru.ca/tpc/2020/program/19; https://digitalcommons.library.tru.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1106&context=tpc

The Apology Dice is an interactive art performance that engages small groups in conversation—about Indian Residential Schools, colonialization, and possibilities of reconciliation— through the rolling of large, custom-made cedar dice. Each die is cast one at a time to form a sentence. The words on the first die read: “I am” / “We are” / “They are”. The second reads: “so” / “fairly” / “really” / “not” / “somewhat” / “deeply”. The third die displays “sorry” on five sides and “tired of this” on the remaining side. The participant reads the sentence aloud and interprets its meaning, in the context of First Nations reconciliation in Canada, and in light of what has happened (or not happened) since the official apology for Indian Residential Schools offered by Harper’s Conservative government in 2008. Combinations may include: “I am / so / sorry”; “We are / not / sorry.”; or “They are / really / tired of this”. Who is the dice speaking for? The government, the churches that ran the schools, First Nations peoples, or the non-indigenous public? Apology Dice is an artistic effort to stir emotional response, to help participants discover, educate, heal, and express their feelings about this history. For ambivalent participants, rolling the dice may prompt more certainty. To those feeling decided, play may reinforce their beliefs or perhaps unsettle them. *Note that this is the same project I presented at the TPC in 2017. I continue to believe in this project’s contribution to reconciliation.