I’m Sorry exhibition launches on Thursday 24 October, 6-9pm at Humber Street Gallery

Print and broadcast media are invited to the launch event where the artist and our CEO & Artistic Director, Marianne Lewsley-Stier will be available for interview from 6 - 6:30pm.

A touring exhibition, originally commissioned by Barnsley Civic, I’m Sorry is inspired by the artist’s personal experience of loss and offers an opportunity to journey through rooms containing photographs, neon installations and a reflection space. Through captivating portraiture and neon lights, the exhibition explores the profound and healing power of saying “I’m Sorry.”

It invites visitors into a safe, contemplative space for personal reflection, offering a transformative journey toward forgiveness, accountability, and self-discovery. I’m Sorry encourages introspection for the collective good, fostering a more compassionate and understanding world.

McCourt’s work spans from lens-based social realism to architectural interventions, drawing inspiration from fact, folklore, and legend. For I’m Sorry, McCourt returns to her roots in photography, forging genuine connections with participants. The exhibition features a series of intimate portraits, each subject holding a neon "I’m Sorry" lamp, written in the artist’s handwriting, symbolising the fragile moments of vulnerability and personal reflection. ‘You’ll lose somebody for five minutes while they’re watching that neon gas looping about, as though it’s living’, she says, ‘just to see that transformation wash over somebody was utterly fascinating’.

In 2017, Hull City of Culture commissioned McCourt’s Electric Fence, which responded to an American pastor’s hate-fuelled rant about wanting to imprison and electrocute LGBTQI+ communities. Recently her work has escaped the gallery into the public realm, where she has enjoyed the critical acclaim.