Sorry// Nyree Reynolds
The three sisters from the Stolen Generations are looking at Sorry written in the sky wondering that it means. Sorry was skywritten on the 28th May, 2000 above us all as more than 250,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
My family and I walked the bridge that day and I forgot to take my camera, which disappointed me, but in retrospect was a good thing. Seeing Sorry written in the sky was etched into my mind more than any photo could show. I felt emotions, the strength that was resonating on that day. I wish that momentum, that feeling could never be lost. It was a day that so many of us will never forget. It’s a day that need never have been if the child removal policy was never proclaimed.
My hope is that these girls will know their story is being heard, they are being listened to and that all the intergenerational pain will be understood and that they will have a voice and a solution.
They deserve no less.
Size: height 32cmwidth 22.5cm
The three sisters from the Stolen Generations are looking at Sorry written in the sky wondering that it means. Sorry was skywritten on the 28th May, 2000 above us all as more than 250,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
My family and I walked the bridge that day and I forgot to take my camera, which disappointed me, but in retrospect was a good thing. Seeing Sorry written in the sky was etched into my mind more than any photo could show. I felt emotions, the strength that was resonating on that day. I wish that momentum, that feeling could never be lost. It was a day that so many of us will never forget. It’s a day that need never have been if the child removal policy was never proclaimed.
My hope is that these girls will know their story is being heard, they are being listened to and that all the intergenerational pain will be understood and that they will have a voice and a solution.
They deserve no less.
Size: height 32cmwidth 22.5cm
The three sisters from the Stolen Generations are looking at Sorry written in the sky wondering that it means. Sorry was skywritten on the 28th May, 2000 above us all as more than 250,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
My family and I walked the bridge that day and I forgot to take my camera, which disappointed me, but in retrospect was a good thing. Seeing Sorry written in the sky was etched into my mind more than any photo could show. I felt emotions, the strength that was resonating on that day. I wish that momentum, that feeling could never be lost. It was a day that so many of us will never forget. It’s a day that need never have been if the child removal policy was never proclaimed.
My hope is that these girls will know their story is being heard, they are being listened to and that all the intergenerational pain will be understood and that they will have a voice and a solution.
They deserve no less.
Size: height 32cmwidth 22.5cm
Nyree (Ngari) Reynolds (b. 1948) is a Wiradjuri artist and art tutor based in Blayney in the Central West region of NSW. Nyree’s paintings have been sold all over Australia and overseas, including private collections in England, USA, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Germany. In describing her body of work, Nyree explains: As an Aboriginal woman of the Wiradjuri Nation I like to tell stories through my paintings. As part of my art practice I paint the Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations blending into the landscape, their own Country from which they were removed. My hope is that when people view my work they will leave with a new understanding of people who have been taken away from their family, home and Country. That they are real people with real stories to be told. Then I know my painting narratives have achieved what I hoped they would.
