Interview with Inesa Velaviciute on Restorative Voices: Seen and Heard by Dan Shay

Having gotten to know Inesa through her involvement in the SMHAF Talking Heads programme, I was delighted to ask her some questions about the important project she planned for this year’s festival Restorative Voices: Seen and Heard. I was interested to learn about the role of art in supporting mental health throughout our justice system, and learning what restorative justice really is.

I understand you work for Community Justice Scotland as a Restorative Justice Development Officer, so how has this exhibition come about?

Inesa explains, “This mainly means communication and engagement, aiming to bring restorative justice to the public in accessible ways.” The exhibition has come about through Inesa’s work and is part of a larger strategy to raise awareness and understanding of restorative justice through innovative methods. She said, “Think about restorative justice as a dialog, communication between two sides, the person who has been affected by harm and the person who caused that harm”.

Restorative justice is an approach of addressing harm through engaging all those affected in coming to a common understanding. The planned and structured dialogue is delivered by specially trained facilitators and only after a careful and robust risk assessment. Inesa highlighted that it is a parallel process to the criminal justice system, not a replacement and does not impact a justice outcome in any shape or form.

Restorative justice is still developing in Scotland, with services available only in certain places and for specific crime types. The Scottish Government has a vision to make restorative justice services available across Scotland for all harm types, run by highly skilled facilitators.

Through her work, Inesa explained that her colleague was aware of people in custody at Low Moss prison and had seen amazing artworks in the corridors there. They planned a workshop there earlier this year to go and speak with them about restorative justice and its role in supporting mental health and healing, and how it tied into this year’s festival theme. The prison community was enthusiastic and engaged in the workshop, asking questions and expressing interest in future sessions. This was the inspiration to work towards this exhibition for SMHAF.

Before discussing any further I wanted to check, what is good terminology to use in relation to people who are in prison?

Inesa responded, “We’re talking about people, people who experience something, and people who are in certain situations, circumstances, but always people.” She emphasised the importance of using non-stigmatizing language, avoiding terms like “offender” and “victim”. She suggests using terms such as “person who caused harm” and “person who experienced harm”, to focus on the individual’s experience rather than labelling them. This helpful explanation highlighted the importance of respectful language in discussing restorative justice and its impact on public perception.

This year’s SMHAF has a theme of In/Visible, so I asked how the exhibition speaks to that?

This exhibition makes the voices of those typically invisible in the prison community visible, “We want to say that to show that these people are still there, they have their stories, they have their lives, they have their voices”.

The artworks showcase the experiences and stories of the prison community, challenging the perception of prisoners as mere numbers. We reflected together on the awareness of isolation affecting our mental health and the value of connection and communication in healing/restoring relationships, alongside the human need to feel ‘Seen and Heard’.

It also seems that restorative justice itself is a relatively invisible part of our justice system at the moment, and this is an opportunity to increase the visibility of this process to improve understanding. Holding the exhibition as part of SMHAF enabled it to reach a wider audience and achieve its aims of highlighting the importance of rehabilitation and reintegration, emphasising the need for community support and understanding:

“The prison is supposed to be a place for rehabilitation… I think, as a society, as a community, we also have responsibility…It’s kind of a two way street, depending on communication and treating others the way you would like to be treated.”

How does this exhibition help us to learn about Restorative Justice?

Inesa explains that the exhibition will include information about restorative justice and quotes from professionals in the field. The artworks will be presented without names or artist statements, “because of the particular situation we’re in, we had to protect the anonymity of the guys at Low Moss”, which from an artist’s perspective sounds like a limitation of imprisonment I hadn’t considered.They will however be presented with titles from the artists.

At the exhibition, visitors have the opportunity to ask questions and engage with the restorative justice team, ensuring a two-way dialogue. Speaking to Inesa she was very informative, addressing misconceptions. She explains that restorative justice is a choice for all parties, and compliments our criminal justice system, saying: “It’s actually essential if we can speak with each other, we can understand the impact of our actions”.

We both agreed that better mental health support in our society would help to limit imprisonments. Where the criminal justice system focuses on the law broken, restorative justice considers the context and humanity surrounding the crime. It is a clear intention that the mental health benefits of restorative justice will support reintegration into our communities.

I wanted to know how Inesa sees the role of art within restorative justice?

Art can be a powerful medium for communication. It can help in expressing feelings and creating a stronger connection than words alone, so it is important to allow participants to express their feelings and experiences through art: “Sometimes restorative justice can happen through a meeting, a video call or letter… it doesn’t have to be a person to person thing. As we can’t always communicate just with words, we can also use art”.

This is exemplified in the Shetland based ‘Space2Face’ project that primarily uses art to facilitate restorative justice, and also demonstrates the role gifting art can play in the process. Inesa also highlighted the importance of arts in making restorative justice more relatable: “I do believe art is one of the most accessible formats to talk with people, especially on themes that can be quite controversial. People seem to engage more and are at least willing to listen and try to understand.”

In some cases, the artwork can become a physical gesture, such as creating something for the community to apologise and restore what was harmed. Restorative justice can help to express feelings and reach a sense of closure, where art can create a safe space to do that.

Speaking of spaces, I was interested to ask about the exhibition being in the Community Centre in Maryhill?

Inesa explains the choice of a community centre was to make the exhibition accessible and inviting. The exhibition aims to bring the voices of people in prison to the community, “We wanted to make the exhibition in a community centre to bring it back to communities and just have a community feeling”. It was also an opportunity to invest back into the community, and support ‘Social Bite’ to cater the exhibition opening. This was evident at the exhibition opening event with an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere. The participants had indicated where would be accessible for their families that they could invite and that was predominantly the Glasgow area. Inesa described this exhibition as “almost like a chance to try to reintegrate into the community, before they come back’’.

Inesa also shared that they hope to do another exhibition in Low Moss, so the people in custody can see how it came together and families and friends who couldn’t make it to Glasgow have an opportunity to see it there.

I have learned a lot, and it is clear that this is a conversation well worth continuing.

Inesa hopes this exhibition will raise awareness and understanding of restorative justice and its role in supporting mental health. “Restorative justice can change the Justice landscape in Scotland…if people chose it, embrace it and use it, it can bring a lot”

“Changing people’s perception of the traditional justice system and fostering a belief in the power of restorative justice requires a collective effort. It demands open conversations, community engagement, and creating platforms for dialogue. By engaging with diverse audiences, including policymakers, justice professionals, community leaders, and the general public, we can encourage that mind shift and inspire people to become advocates for restorative justice.”

“We would like people to think about mental health within the context of our criminal justice system.” and adds that this can also teach us about our broader relationships: “Within the criminal justice system or not… restorative justice is there to address anyone’s mental health.. ”

If you would like to contribute to conversation about restorative justice, you can learn more about restorative justice at the Learning Hub – Community Justice Scotland.

Thanks to photography from Kirsty Anne Watters.

Dan Shay is an artist and writer based in Glasgow. He loves to absorb and project art (often literally) whilst championing creativity that makes space to reflect and connect. Sometimes posts on Instagram and X as @danianshay.

Kirsty Anne Watters is a poet, policy assistant and mental health volunteer from Glasgow. She has bipolar affective disorder and uses writing as both a way to cope with her condition and to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. You can find more of Kirsty’s work on Instagram and Threads @kawatterswriting.