Artwork in Albania: The process of transformation from propaganda tool before the 90s to JT tool after the 90s 1.THEORETICAL APPROACH 1.1. The role of artworks in TJ process Art can play a role in transitional justice processes aimed at confronting the culture of silence, denial or rationalization.1 In the traditional concept there have been five main mechanisms considered transitional justice, which have been taken into account in the case of post-conflict countries or countries coming from dictatorial regimes: trials, truth commissions, amnesties, reparations, and lustration policies2. But despite these mechanisms, there are also other means which provide information on improving the quality and extent of TJ processes in the public sphere. More specifically related to the concept: the label “transition” is generally attached to societies that transit from a totalitarian regime, or conflict (where mass atrocities and violations of human rights have taken place), to a more pluralistic type of governance, and peaceful and just society3. Among the tools which affect the process of transitional justice, various actors have also considered the artworks related to the past. Therefore, in the past decade, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding have gained the attention of scholars and policymakers, and to recognize the importance of this inquiry the International Peace Research Association established an Arts and Peace Commission in 20044. According to Brants et al., transitional justice is not only a matter of law but also a process of making sense of the past5. Besides the courts, the truth commissions also limit the chances for victims to voice their whole story. Above all, they select only a few victims to voice their testimonies.6 De Bruyn and De Maseneer raised the question: how and why can art play a role in processes of reconciliation? Art is often invoked for its potential to produce new forms and open up our imagination, even to reconfigure time and space. It creates a time and a space to remember, to mourn, to forgive, to heal, and to glimpse a new future.” 7 According to d’Evie artworks are considered differently as cultural interventions, she continues by augmenting that cultural interventions in TJ is that it can contribute to the aims of transitional justice by making victims visible. They can comprise more accessible forms of transitional justice. Ching in his study on “Transitional Justice and Transformative possibilities in memory as art outlines two ways in which the arts can contribute to the striving for transformative justice in times of transition. Firstly says: “I suggest that memory as art allows for new meaning and turns fact into understanding, giving counsel to perceivers and witnesses without compromising their sense of self-determination. 1. James Weaver and Jeanne Colleran, Whose Memory? Whose Justice? Personal and Political trauma in Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts Vol. 16, No.1, 2. Tricia D Olsen, Leigh A Payne and Andrew G Reiter, Transitional justice in the world, 1970-2007: Insights from a new dataset, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 47, No. 6, (2010), 803 3. Sanja Bahun, Transitional Justice, and the Arts: Reflections on the Field, Published in Theorizing Transitional Justice, eds. Nir Eisikovits, Claudio Corradetti, Jack Volpe Rotondi (Ashgate, Routledge, 2014), 157. 4. Sanja Bahun, Transitional Justice and the Arts: Reflections on the Field, Published in Theorizing Transitional Justice, eds. Nir Eisikovits, Claudio Corradetti, Jack Volpe Rotondi (Ashgate, Routledge, 2014), 157 5. Chrisje Brants, Antoine Hol, and Dina Siegel, Transitional Justice: Images and Memories, (Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2013), 43. 6. Fayen D’Evie, Dispersed truths and displaced memories: Extraterritorial witnessing and memorializing by diaspora through public art. In P. D. Rush, & O. Simic (Eds.), The arts of transitional justice: Culture, activism, and memory after atrocity (New York: Springer, 2014), 64. 7. Paul de Bruyne and Yves de Maeseneer, Secret and Sacred Places: The Role of Art in Processes of Reconciliation, in Concilium: International Review of Theology (2013), 24. 147