Storytelling for Collective Healing
Background
In the spring of 2023, Restorative Justice Initiative, in partnership with Conspiring for Good, brought together a cohort of artists and storytellers to explore themes of restoration, reconciliation, and transformation. Through paired collaborations, the participants developed their stories through various media and artistic disciplines. This eight-month project, funded by a grant from the Sigrid Rausing Trust, was coordinated by Anooj Bhandari, Senior Coordinator of Training and Youth Programming at Restorative Justice Initiative and Amy Ellenbogen, Founder and Lead Facilitator of Conspiring for Good. The nine-member cohort participated in 12 hours of community-building circles, paired work sessions and an internal workshop and feedback session. The project aimed to reach a new audience that may not be familiar with the term restorative justice but may be receptive to its underlying concepts.
Our final showcase on September 6, 2023 was an evening of warmth, expression, and learning. Every detail was approached with a spirit of care and collaboration. The standing-room only audience viewed five original works, incorporating ritual, performance, sound art, video, and visual art. Throughout the showcase, each pair showed support for their fellow cohort members and had the opportunity to take pride in their work. There was a generous and kind energy that flowed through the performance and continued well into the conversations at the reception.
We’re pleased to share a short documentary about the project, as well as the artworks themselves. Thank you to Echoes of Incarceration for documenting the final showcase. We hope you enjoy exploring these collaborative stories for collective healing!
Artists/Storytellers:
Jude Afolake Olubodun, Vee Arumemi, Jennifer Cendaña Armas, River Ying Dandelion , Ziedah Diata, Kiesa Kay, L. LeDonne, Bianca Moña, Ish Orkar, and Carole Eady Porcher. Be sure to get to know them here!
Cohort Media
Transformation Triology by Lori LeDonne (L) and Kiesa Kay
Through three songs, “Stars,” “Changing Up,” and “Cinnamon Blessing,” we chart a trilogy of transformation for PTSD. Each of our expressions offers a piece of our healing process, for what has worked for us individually and together as a team. We begin and end with three breath chimes. We invite listeners to dance and move along with us through this process.
Restoration of Life by Carole Eady and Bianca Mońa
Our goal for this project is to demonstrate how storytelling may help alleviate the effects of trauma one may continue to hold onto long after the traumatic episode occurred. This may invite others to begin to dispel the symptoms of their own trauma by gaining the courage to confront the memories, document them in some form, then reexamine the incident so there is a release of the resentment, anger and self-guilt. Through Carole we learn the importance of forgiveness to rebuilding the individual, the family and the community. Carole exemplifies how this step is necessary in order to begin to love oneself within the practice of restorative justice and atonement.
Four the Love of Hims Pt. 1
Four the Love of Hims Pt. 2
Four the Love of Hims Pt. 3
Four the Love of Hims Pt. 4
“port(als) of entry” by Ish and Vee
“port(als) of entry” aims to explore what it means to have or lack freedom, and how the degree of agency we hold in spaces is directly related to our proximity to liberation. Using the themes of travel and movement through space, we focus on systems of oppression that we regularly encounter when traveling and how our interactions in those spaces can either perpetuate harm or facilitate healing. Through the mediums of collage, poetry, photography and film, this project serves as an invitation to reflect on themes of entry and exclusion, access and denial, dehumanization and connection. We hope participants are prompted to reflect on their own journeys through harmful interactions and are reminded that through the power of intentionality, we can always choose to act in new and restorative ways. We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to liberate ourselves (and each other) through communal care. What would it be like to have a space where we can rest, play, experience joy, and heal? If we are envisioning a future where our shared humanity is centered over legacies of harm, the building of this future needs to be done by people who are willing to do the work and are committed to restoration.
The Way Back Home by Jude Olubodun & Jennifer Cendaña Armas
This voice, movement, and music piece is the transformative journey to love after it feels like you’ve lost everything and there is no way to move forward; it is understanding that healing isn’t linear as we finding our way back to our divine selves.
What people are saying about Restorative Justice Initiative
As both a practitioner and researcher, I am especially grateful for RJI's emails about events and research that are important and timely.
Additionally, RJI helps practitioners connect with others doing this very challenging work nationwide and globally. RJI serves as a professional learning community for those involved in the restorative justice movement.
Finally, practitioners can access information on how to maintain their own wellness as they carry out this very important work."
— Virginia Diaz
“The Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) is a critical source of information and resources. Along with providing accessible and useful material for program development, RJI keeps us abreast of training opportunities and introduces us to other organizations in the restorative justice space. Connecting with RJI has been key to our progress creating an organization wide commitment to restorative principles and practice.”
—Stephen Tosh, Boys’ Club of New York Executive Director/CEO
“I didn’t think I could make friends with people who were from different places than me.”“We were quiet before you all got here. You brought the voice out of us.”“We all get to be weird here, together, and accept one another’s weird”
“What Restorative Justice Initiative is doing to bring together people working in restorative justice in different arenas is truly amazing. People are learning from each other, updating ideas, and finding ways to make restorative justice work in complex real life situations in New York.
— Tracey
“In my role as a law professor, I teach students about ways to resolve conflict and achieve justice that are healing rather than adversarial and punitive, exposing them to compassionate alternatives to traditional legal practice. Students are excited to learn about the healing potential of restorative practices and the empirical evidence demonstrating that such practices reduce recidivism among those who may have engaged in transgressions against their communities. The Restorative Justice Initiative is an indispensable resource enabling me to share with my students placement opportunities, trainings, and conferences, that may offer them pathways to using their legal talents to engage in this vital work. There is nothing else like it in New York.
— Marjorie
“Expanding non-adversarial ways to resolve wrong-doing that includes perpetrator, victim, and community—is essential if our country is to move in the direction of peace. RJI does a wonderful job of pulling together many New York City area organizations that are working toward this goal.
— Julia
“The Restorative Justice Initiative is essential in helping New York City build and grow a network of stakeholders from the government, nonprofit and private sectors interested in advancing restorative principles, practices and policies in our criminal , education and social service systems.
— Julie