Art exhibit sheds light on sex trafficking

Closely examining artifacts from sex trafficking brothels in Cambodia and Thailand, Tracy Pihl, a freshman at CU majoring in psychology and art, learns about the issue afflicting children around the world at the iEmpathize Empathy Experience Art Exhibit in Boulder, Colo., Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. Pihl, who heard about the exhibit from a friend, called it "...incredible. Very impacting." (CU Independent/Adam Milner)

Two CU film students traveled to the heart of South Asia in November 2008 to explore the underside of sex trafficking and hear victims’ stories as they tried to spread awareness for the organization iEmpathize.

iEmpathize began its nonprofit organization at CU with an art exhibition and a film forum with speakers who are working to stop modern day slavery and sex trafficking. iEmpathize is an arts and advocacy program that uses the medium of art to spread awareness about modern-day slavery, through film photography and displaying artifacts from brothels.

“[This exhibition] will raise awareness of the heinous crimes committed around the world,” said Ryan Flanders, a junior international affairs and Spanish major as well as president of CU Students Against Modern Day Slavery. “This exhibit brings those stories close to home.”

Flanders said that CU SAMS is a student group that’s goal is to end all forms of slavery around the world and to bring awareness of this issue to CU students.

On Sept. 22 to 23, iEmpathize, with the help of CU SAMS, put on an art exhibition in the Glen Miller Ballroom and showed a film by CU film students Tim Hall and Jesse Marek. The film featured footage of sex trafficking from their trip to Southeast Asia and interviews with the founders and volunteers from iEmpathize.

“I really liked it,” said Rachel Olguin, a freshman psychology major. “It had an artsy and edgy feel to it which gave it importance, and a serious edge to it.”

After the film, a panel of five discussed the issue of sex trafficking around the world. On the panel were Beth Klein, a trial and human rights attorney, Robert Buffington, a CU Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Arundhati Pal, a member of the anti-slavery Polaris Project, Hill and Flanders.

The art exhibition featured photos by Pete Gibson and artifacts collected by iEmpathize on the trip to Southeast Asia. The artifacts included a broken tile from a brothel, a pair of girls’ sandals found in front of a closed-down children’s brothel, a bed used to “break” new children in the brothel and a drawing by a girl in art therapy after being rescued from sexual slavery.

“[The art exhibit] really personalized the issues for me, especially seeing those sandals,” Flanders said. “Those made it really emotional and they inspired me.”

The forum discussed many issues pertaining to sex trafficking domestically and internationally. Brad Riley, the leader of iEmpathize, who ran the forum, said that 1.2 million children around the world are trafficked, and that in the last 30 years around 30 million children have lost their childhood to sex trafficking.

Flanders brought the subject home by saying that one-third of homeless youths in America are sex trafficked within 48 hours of being on the street. He also said that an estimated 2,500 children are sex trafficked in Colorado.

Klein said that she thinks that one of the main reasons for sex trafficking in Southeast Asia is because of the poor economy, which many of the panel agreed with. The panel also said that human trafficking is estimated to make $32 billion dollars a year, making it the second or third largest business in the world.

“How do we end this?” Klein said. “I think it’s human nature that if we don’t have something to live for or things to do, we get into trouble. With the IRA in Ireland, peace was brought through economic development. How do I get these guys jobs?”

Freshman Karly Smock a freshman psychology major said she wrote a paper about sex trafficking in high school and went to the exhibit to learn more.

“It makes me want to tell people about it, to tell them how important it is and how to stop it,” Smock said.

iEmaphize launched Sept. 21 and is visiting all of the Big 12 schools. The group posts its upcoming events on its Web site.

“Most of great movements in history have been started by teens, why not this one?” Pal said.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Brigid Igoe at Brigid.igoe@colorado.edu.