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as the resulting Diaspora communities. the spaces in which to share their experiences safely
For that we need to bring forward the insights of the with free of institutional constraints and the most
scholars, civil society groups, and art practitioners, as importantly these opportunities provides a sense
well as interdisciplinary collaborations related to the of safety for discussions about human rights abuses
artistic field. too.
Further the cultural and artistic projects also
As Sri Lankans we believe that the horror we
have the potential to arouse powerful reactions
have lived through will not be repeated, as it feels us
among the audience to the effects of human rights
as we were in a nightmare, an error, a bad dream and
violations on the lives of victims in ways that other
better quickly forgotten. What has overtaken us that
forms of communication do not have that effect,
we forget so easily?
such as official truth commission reports. By linking
But on the contrary, memory and imagination individual and personal experiences to collective
complement each other since they allow us to narratives, cultural and artistic projects can capture
represent what has already passed and what one public attention, trigger empathy and foster dialogue
day might occur where the arts can play a major role better than the recommendations provided by a
in enlightening us about the things we went wrong, report as mentioned as the truth commission report.
missed opportunities, wrong calculations and bad
As an example we can take the Afghanistan’s
decisions etc.
participatory theatre oriented transitional
As an example we can take the Miguel Rubio justice process which has opened up spaces for
Documentary Theater as a Transitional Justice communities, particularly victims, to share their
mechanism, even though it has been twenty years stories and construct collective meanings. This
since Yugoslavia’s worst nightmare, the painful past, space has particularly been given importance to
unresolved grievances, and social trauma are still the absence of transitional justice measures in the
very much present in the region. Afghan context. And which also can provide spaces
for gender equality where approximately 80 percent
Bosnia and Herzegovina can also be taken
of the initial theatre participants were women. The
as an example and since the end of war in 1995, it
theatre productions have enabled memory and truth-
has undergone a post-conflict transitional process
seeking, in different forms than other transitional
involving immense economic, political, and social-
justice mechanisms. Participants can present their
cultural reconstruction. Today, it is an ethnically
stories simultaneously, enabling multiple narratives
divided country, and national, ethnic and religious
to be heard. While theatre provides the spaces to
divisions represent an obstacle to its political,
express feelings of fear, anger, pain and suffering,
economic and social development.
but there are risks that re-enacting such narratives
Also Serbia suffers from its “indirect” could be traumatic for participants.
involvement in the wars and appalling
Another example for cultural and artistic
socioeconomic and political conditions. Similar to
interventions which can also amplify the work of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is going through a process
other transitional justice mechanism is 80’s Rewind
of dealing with the past with no formal transitional
festival in South Africa. It was an art installation
justice mechanisms established.
created to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
Over the past twenty years and under South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
these circumstances, many grassroots arts- Documents from the Commission were portrayed
based projects have been developed. One of these in the connection through the use of seven screens
innovative, informal, or “unofficial projects,” has been and music, drawing on emotive sounds and symbols.
documentary theater, which serves to artistically Audiences were encouraged physically to engage
express issues often repressed by the governments. with the artwork through seeing and hearing it. The
These projects can help form social bonds between personal stories were activated to take on collective
people by bringing to the fore commonly shared significance. But the exhibits raised questions,
experiences, spreading awareness about the suffering regarding of selecting certain testimonies where
of the families of victims and of the communities that they have reinterpreted and performed other
grieve for them, and inviting communities to engage people’s stories which can be a negative side of using
with each other. these artifacts.
They can comprise more accessible forms of Furthermore artistic projects can also be
transitional justice and also they may afford victims created specifically for diaspora communities.