Broken, Beaten, and For Sale

Claire S.
pen and ink drawing with watercolor

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Human trafficking has become a huge issue in our society, as well as globally. This issue is definitely something that we need to work on preventing and correcting interdependently. Thousands of women, girls, and men throughout the world are being sexually trafficked and trafficked for labor. These people are also abused by the traffickers every day. About thirty million people in the world are trafficked each day.This issue is very close to me, knowing that it directly affects so many girls my age or close to my age. It makes me feel for these young women and girls, knowing how hard it must be to face such a deep issue like that. their lives have been permanently affected, emotionally and physically. I hope that more people will realize just how difficult something like this must be for these women, men, and children, and help in the cause to stop human trafficking. Most global initiatives are trying to raise awareness about human trafficking, but there don’t seem to be as many that are trying to prevent and stop traffickers. My artwork shows a young girl that appears to be beaten and abused, with her fist close to her heart. She has a tattoo that reads: “ for sale,” and below that reads: “Inside, she’s broken,/ but her lips are sealed./ She’s getting stronger,/ but for all the wrong reasons” Her mouth is closed shut with stitches and printed across her mouth is: “her lips are sealed.” At the top, another poem is written, that says,”She’s broken./ She’s silent./ She knows she can’t speak,/ But still, she’s hoping/ That soon,/ It will all be over. “Human trafficking” is written many times on the left, and “Stop it now” is written many times on the right. I would definitely like to spread awareness about the issue with my artwork, but I hope it also inspires people to think about how difficult it is for people being trafficked, and even inspire people to start projects of their own concerning human trafficking.