Artists' Books

Political Matter in Publication: Cathy Busby Artist Focus. by Tajliya Jamal

Cathy Busby is a Canadian artist now based in Vancouver, BC. Her works are often political and site-specific. Busby’s work often looks at personal and private pain, and how it can become politicized and commodified in the public realm. Although her works are shown in exhibition format, “artist books and printed matter are an integral part of [her] practice. As works in themselves, they describe and expand a project while extending its reach through distribution” (Busby). Often Busby’s work comes in both formats, as seen with the following projects, and others such as “Your Choice” (2008) and “About Face” (2012).

“Sorry” by Cathy Busby (2008) -- Call Number: 0720

“Sorry” is a project by Cathy Bubsy focused on questioning the artificiality of public remorse. It was first exhibited in Hamilton, Ontario in 2005, followed by an exhibition in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the same year, and finally in Sydney, Australia in 2008. The artists book version of the work was published in Halifax in 2008.

In this project, Busby examines the rise of public remorse as a political action by displaying blown up images of different apologist’s mouths. Each image represents a moment of remorse, and although the mouths are often characterized by a trembling lip, they are also often a stern mouth, a complacent mouth, or even a grinning mouth. Robin Metcalfe notes that “the ‘trembling lip’ apology [...] has the curious effect of eclipsing those actually suffering the consequences of the act for which apology is given, emphasizing instead the subjective condition of the one apologizing”. Focus on solely the mouth (or “trembling lip”) highlights the theatricality and artificiality of public apologies. Busby includes public apologies of varied consequence, ranging from apologies for accidental nudity to apologies for ongoing histories of cultural genocide. When faced with only the images, the severity and significance from apology to apology cannot be detected, thus causing the reader to question the sincerity of each apologist.

The book version of this project compiles all of these photos, one per page, and is followed by a list of the apologies, apologists, and brief contexts. Although the book does not recreate the extreme size of the images when in exhibition format, the images in the book are still larger than life, causing discomfort and anxiety for the reader. The book version also includes an index, and two interviews to contextualize the project.

“We Are Sorry” by Cathy Busby (2010) -- Call Number: 1411

Similar to the above-mentioned project “Sorry” (2008), “We Are Sorry” (2010) explores the political and public action of apologizing, more specifically in relation to the oppression of indigenous peoples and cultures in Canada and Australia. This work was first exhibited as a public mural in Melbourne, Australia from 2009-2013, in the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2010, and in Belkin Gallery in Vancouver, Canada in 2013. The artists book was published in 2010 and contains excerpts from both apologies, one read in each direction of the book by flipping it over.

Busby again uses the blown-up mouth as identifiers of the apologists, though more confrontational is a mural of vinyl text -- a transcription of, in the Melbourne exhibition, Kevin Rudd’s apology to Australia’s indigenous peoples, and in the Canadian exhibitions, Stephen Harper’s apology to former students of residential schools in Canada. With these focused transcriptions, Busby points out the use of apology to reinforce colonial ideologies and even cloak economic benefit (Gaertner). Although many have described these public apologies as meaningless, one can read them as political moves to instill and retain power and control.

Busby’s work makes no explicit commentary on the apologies themselves, but draws extended attention to their happening, and asks its viewers to look deeper into the causes and effects of these attempts at amendment. In both exhibition and book format, it serves to prolong the existence of these political actions in mass media in order to stop them from phasing out of discourse. Busby’s work in relation to the the institutional treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada extends further into a series of other projects, the most recent being “We Call” (2017).

Works in the Emily Carr Library:

ExCat 5707 “Branded” (2008)

0720 “Sorry” (2008)

0721 “Your Choice” (2008)

1411 “We Are Sorry” (2010)

0722 “About Face” (2012)

1350 “Steve’s Vinyl” (2013)

Additional Resources:

Cathy Busby website:

http://www.cathybusby.ca/index.php

Gaertner, David. “Apology’s Worth It: How Canada Profits From Apology”, Novel Alliances: Allied Perspectives on Literature, Art, and New Media. May 22, 2014.

https://novelalliances.com/2014/05/22/apologys-worth-it-how-canada-profits-from-apology/

Miyagawa, Mitch. “A Sorry State”, December 12, 2009. Updated May 1, 2017.

https://thewalrus.ca/a-sorry-state/

Bachlakova, Polina. “The Work of Cathy Busby”, BeatRoute. December 2, 2013.

http://beatroute.ca/2013/12/02/the-work-of-cathy-busby/

Wirk, Mandeep. “ACT NOW on Reconciliation”, Rungh. May 21, 2018.

    http://rungh.org/act-now-on-reconciliation/