CALL YOUR MOM
  • About Us
    • Artist Statement
    • Resume
  • Work
    • The Say You're Sorry Workbook
    • Process: Say You're Sorry
    • Too Day (2018)
    • Too Day (2017)
    • Household (2017)
    • Welcome to the Family (2016)
    • THIS CLOSE (2016)
    • Call Your Mom (2014)
    • Video
  • Contact

Forgiveness Experiment - Baltimore, MD

1/20/2019

0 Comments

 
Call Your Mom's first forgiveness experiment took place in January 2019 at the studios of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture in Baltimore, MD. For the first part of the experiment, we performed public apologies by nameless public figures and had participants hold up YES/NO paddles based on whether a given apology warranted forgiveness. For the second part, we read a series of wrongs and had participants walk a quilted Forgivability Scale from "Easily Atoned" to "Unforgivable." Each participant was given 4 slips of fabric to write specific responses to any of the prompts and pin them on the scale.
Picture
Some responses to prompts on the Forgivability Scale: ​“I’ve done that + haven’t forgiven myself, but would forgive others” / "Too emotional to be ideological about it” / “Gaslighting!” / “Would take time + healing + an effort to love (after time)” 
Picture
After the two activities, the participants sat down with us to discuss the experience. Here are some notes we wrote down from the discussion:
  • What does forgiveness mean? Accountability? Moving on?
  • Identities affect everything so it’s hard to think of it in the abstract
  • There’s so much grey but justice feels black/white
  • Easier to forgive your own assailant than your friend’s assailant
  • Forgivability props up the carceral state
  • Anything is forgivable in theory but would I forgive is a different question
  • Time aspect - how long has it been?
  • Forgiveness is taught to women / queer folks as necessity
  • Forgiveness as a process vs. as a finished whole
  • “Understanding” vs. “Forgiveness”
  • You can forgive an act without wanting to ever interact with the perpetrator again
  • Accountability not included in these experiments
  • Brings up questions about the anonymity of public space, crying in the subway
  • Forgiveness can’t be passive
  • Easier to place yourself in the middle of the pack
  • Taking someone’s lunch out of the staff fridge → small acts of colonization
  • Simple items can be more loaded because layers / identities brought in
  • What if the next Forgiveness Scale is a room with 4 corners? Axes to walk versus one plane
  • Could be good to throw in some less abstract ones, marked with identities (name whiteness, cisness)
  • It’s good that there is no “neutral/no comment” box
  • Next time we could have audience members read some of the prompts, encourage them to put whatever intention they want into it
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Say You're Sorry is a multimedia exploration of forgiveness and redemption. From September 2019 through May 2020, Call Your Mom will be developing various aspects of Say You're Sorry at residencies across the country and abroad. In the summer of 2020, we will return to the US to tour our performance and workshop series. Check back here for project updates throughout the year.
    Support Say You're Sorry

    Author

    Call Your Mom (Emma Bergman, E Cadoux, Sophie Goldberg, Mia Massimino)

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • About Us
    • Artist Statement
    • Resume
  • Work
    • The Say You're Sorry Workbook
    • Process: Say You're Sorry
    • Too Day (2018)
    • Too Day (2017)
    • Household (2017)
    • Welcome to the Family (2016)
    • THIS CLOSE (2016)
    • Call Your Mom (2014)
    • Video
  • Contact