Artwork from “In You We Trust" art exhibit.
Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Sept. 27, 2016
(DALLAS) — Every year in Dallas, families lose 2,000 children — not to drownings, drugs or accidents. Instead, those 2,000 children disappear, sadly, to become the victims of human sex trafficking, sold on the streets as currency. It’s a thought that no parent wants to face and a tragedy that shouldn’t happen at all. But it does.
The plight of children who are abducted and become victims of human sex trafficking is the focus of an art project at Richland College titled “In You We Trust,” an exhibit on display now through Oct. 16 in the Brazos Gallery on the Richland College campus. The exhibit is free and open to the general public.
Two thousand hand-made ceramic coins in the exhibit represent each child from Dallas who potentially is sold into sex trafficking.
According to the International Labor Organization, the sex trade is the world’s fastest-growing illegal industry, surpassing the use of illegal drugs. Studies cited by law enforcement and advocacy groups conservatively estimate that 100,000 children are enslaved in the sex trade in the United States.
Locally, the Dallas Independent School District reports that approximately 6,000 of its students are homeless, and studies by the National District Attorneys Association estimate that one out of every three children will be approached by a pimp within 48 hours of arriving on the street. As a result, officials estimate that 2,000 children in Dallas may be sold.
The number is staggering, and art faculty members Jen Rose and Marian Lefeld wanted to raise awareness by creating a tangible, tactile representation — those 2,000 ceramic coins — which they designed themselves. Each coin features a child’s face on one side (designed by Lefeld) and a crown on the other (designed by Rose). The coins represent the practice of using children as currency, and the exhibit’s name — “In You We Trust” — is a call to action for the audience not to turn a blind eye to sex trafficking.
Two Faculty Members on a Mission
Rose and Lefeld attended a training session in January 2016 hosted by Traffick911, an organization whose members work with law enforcement to identify victims of sex trafficking. After they learned about the practice and the alarming statistics, both art faculty members selected sex trafficking as a topic for an exhibit. The project’s co-directors received a grant this spring from the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and have been working on “In You We Trust” for nine months.
Artwork from “In You We Trust" art exhibit.
They spent several months developing prototype plaster molds that would be used to create coins as the focal point of the exhibit because pimps view children as currency and also have been known to brand their victims with coin or money tattoos.
“The main goal of this exhibit is to make people aware that this is happening in Dallas,” said Rose. “The more people who know that this (practice) exists, the more likely they are to identify situations in which children may be in danger — and the more likely they are to speak up. We also will be promoting a human trafficking hotline during the show so that people can learn how to notify federal authorities about suspicious activities.”
“As artists, we want to start conversations,” explained Lefeld. “This conversation about child sex trafficking is one that literally can save someone’s life. ‘In You We Trust’ is about action — saying something, trusting others to do the right thing, saving a life.”
Community Involvement Is Key
Not only do the two Richland arts faculty members want to educate people about sex trafficking and how to report it; they also wanted to get community members involved in the project itself, creating the ceramic coins that represent so many lost children.
Artwork from “In You We Trust" art exhibit.
Rose and Lefeld spent several months developing prototypes and doing material experiments to ensure they could engineer a creative process that could involve a large number of participants. Once they developed a system, they were able to work with more than 100 volunteers in their studios. Each week, more volunteers signed up as they learned about the project through social media, word of mouth and partnerships with local organizations like Traffick911.
Rose and Lefeld are pre-selling some of the coins in the exhibit to cover the costs of the project that weren’t funded by the grant from OCA. Individuals who donate $50 will receive one coin.
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“Our goal is to raise enough money to ship 1,000 coins to other parts of Texas or across the U.S.,” they explained. “The exhibit and the coins will increase awareness. Any funds earned beyond our goal will be split evenly with Traffick911. The coins can be purchased through the exhibit’s GoFundMe page.” To donate, visit
gofundme.com/inyouwetrust.
The exhibit, which opened Sept. 26, will include a survivor lecture on Friday, Sept. 30, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; and a presentation by Traffick911 on Wednesday, Oct. 5, from noon to 1 p.m. An opening reception from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and an evening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. also will be held on Sept. 30. Additional images and details are available at InYouWeTrustArt.org.
For more information, contact Katie McClelland, Richland College senior web writer and editor, at 972-238-6019 or at
kmcclelland@dcccd.edu.
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