Lady Justice is the main image of
justice we have a blindfolded woman with
scales and a sword
she is blindfolded because she has
decided not to see whom she has in front
of her with her scales it’s nice to
measure pain crime and fit that to
punishment with her sword she delivers
her punishment monopolizing its violence
is this adjust image how can we think
about justice through images these are
the questions I will ask here today he’s
a woman the accessories of Lady Justice
suffocate me that might be because I’m
not a lady maybe it’s because I’m not
dressed to kill in my talk today my
companions will be women real women let
us consider for a moment the blindfold
if justice was really blind as she
claims to be then my question is why our
prisons filled mostly with blacks
foreigners in the poorest among us I
think she is blind in order not to see
the injustice is imposed in her name not
to see the pain and meaninglessness
created by ugly institutions our prisons
deep down a woman in fact this lady
cannot bear to see when trying to do
justice when claiming to do justice our
eyes must be open wide the men and women
in our hands are not abstract but real
human beings they have been babies with
a crystal face playful children and have
grown up men and women among us they are
called Emily Antonio
bleep brunella in 1931 a woman called
Margaret Wilson on her own initiative
curiosity and interest and also concern
writes a book called the crime of
punishment she was not an expert she is
just a woman she writes this about her
book she says this is a woman’s book and
therefore we shall be is shamelessly
women as we please and that means we
shall not consider the law or justice or
safety or any other abstraction at a
distance from the meaning they have on
the lives of men and women boys and
girls we love Lady Justice especially
proud of her scales we are obsessed with
the scales but our obsession is
presumptious a very simple tool of crime
and punishment in time and space shows
how ridiculous our assumptions are the
same crime today it’s not even taken
very seriously
yesterday it was punished with death
penalty I’m talking about things like
killing chicken cutting trees stealing
horses being a witch being a witch today
is even fashionable the same crime such
as drug use in Norway is punished with a
fine in Singapore with death penalty we
try for accuracy and precision but
cannot find it in fact geometrical rigor
and human activity do not go together
well the algebra of suffering writes
anime sooty in her book time as
punishment is minus times minus equals
more negative times negative equals
positive but do we really believe that
in order to get rid of
suffering we need to add additional
suffering the sort of justice delivers
punishment but does not keep a distance
from it for this reason the history of
punishment is not less cruel that the
history of crime so is this just image
how can we think about alternative ideas
of justice through images since 10 years
I work on an alternative idea of justice
called restorative justice restorative
justice challenges Lady Justice in all
its elements blindfold scales and sword
its eyes and ears are open wide to
listen to and see the voices and faces
of those that have been harmed and those
that have harmed it does not have the
arrogance to think we can measure pain
and equate it to punishment it deals
with the irreversibility of human action
what has been done cannot be undone
there is no equality of pain crime and
punishment are not interchangeable we
must move on from this restorative
justice tries to do wrongs right from
wrong it keeps crime at a distance says
Claudia matsukata
it can meet violence but does not
replicate it does not use it and
therefore does not legitimize it
answering evil with evil might seem the
most obvious but it is not the best way
Claudia Mott Cecotto is one of the
mediators that has created very
important encounters between
perpetrators of political violence in
1970s in Italy and their victims the
best argument against violence she
argues is a critique of violence
sword of justice cuts between victims
and offenders innocent and guilty
partisans of one and the other relevant
from irrelevant fact as a mediator
matsukata likens her word to another
image that of the plough it is in the
nature of the plough to work for many
years it is in the nature of the sword
to work but one minute it takes years
and years to nourish and maintain human
lives and human relations but is the
plough a good image of restorative
justice claudia matsukata herself finds
anchorage in another image this is a
logo of the Constitutional Court in
South Africa it was made by a woman
artist called Carolyn Perron this image
you see in this image you see people
sheltered under the branches of the tree
to symbolize a justice that protects it
is bait based on traditional African
communities where people were literally
sitting under a tree to discuss their
disputes and conflict through dialogue
the image also tries to represent
another concept the concept of Ubuntu
this concept refers to humanity but
humanity made possible only through the
existence of other people in fact in the
images you will notice that dark and
light are distinct the the branches and
the people in a way artistic black black
and white but on another level you will
see that they are not distinct you do
not see where does one start and where
does the other end in my work in
restorative justice I have been very
inspired by scholars like Claudia
matsukata but also others who feel the
need to step outside their narrow field
these scholars find anchorage in arts
and literature I think in our field we
need contamination we need to step
outside otherwise we remain a closed
system this image was made by street
artist here in lovin and it refers very
clearly to what I think a closed system
is listening to oneself only speaking to
oneself only if we ignore arts and
imagination we lack the tools that will
give us the necessary inspiration to
understand what do we do why do we do it
and how can we imagine things being
otherwise but our brains are not
instruments of representation they are
instrument of action this is the reason
why I’m very conscious of the importance
of action and therefore I do like art
that acts that moves that touches that
represents and shows another image of
what is possible I want to talk to you
about another woman this our Dean Ian
artist Mary Ally she died four years ago
at 98 93 years old I was very lucky to
meet her two years before she died in an
Italian in Sardinia in 1981 Maria led me
the truly unique piece of art in her
hometown in ullas I for her art work she
started talking to the people in town
listening to their stories among the old
stories told one story caught her
imagination The Legend of the blue
ribbon the legend told of a little girl
who was in a cave with two older men and
the cave falls down the girl holds on to
a blue ribbon she sees in the sky and
gets saved the men do not believe her
and die under the cave now the legend is
built on a real event that took place in
olice I where when the mountain that
stands on top of the town fell down and
caused a tragedy it was this legend and
the imagination of the little girl that
gave the artist the right tools to start
her project merchants from
all over Italy donated meters and meters
of blue fabric she asked the inhabitants
to cut long blue ribbons out of the
fabric of course some just watched
because some people were very hesitant
to to participate and but most people
did especially children did once the
blue ribbons were ready she asked the
inhabitants to tie the town into itself
tie every house to each other as people
started to do this a problem emerged
people were telling her they did not
want to tie the house to the house of
the neighbor because there were enemies
the artists worked with this resistance
and ask people to tie the houses anyhow
but when there was friendship and to tie
loaves of bread into the nodes or put
colorful clothes to symbolize it also
reminding us that friendship is rare and
she told them to put nothing where there
was no friendship now as the houses were
being tied into each other a helicopter
flew in float flew in and tied the whole
town to its mountain in order to make
peace with it now I know this image
belongs to an art museum and not to a
courthouse I also know that it’s very
impractical to tie our courthouses with
blue ribbons but I want this image to
make us think think of what justice that
restores and repairs would look like I
think time has come for Lady Justice to
grow up and become a woman a 93 years
old woman is this how can how can we
think about just images probably we have
to think a little bit further about that
but let me leave you with one thing
tonight
when you go home
tonight tomorrow please look and think
about images of justice when you go into
a courthouse bow in respect in front of
the statue of Lady Justice
but look further for alternatives I hope
our courthouses
and our municipalities will lounge
public forums inviting artists students
and others to work together and imagine
a justice otherwise and if it can be
imagined it can be done
thank you [Applause]