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Many people know Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee or Professor Sybil Trelawney from the Harry Potter films. But yesterday the British actress took a break from film and joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYU President John Sexton outside the Silver Center to open an art installation intended to raise awareness about sex trafficking.
The exhibition, titled "Journey," is installed inside seven industrial crates, set up on the south side of Washington Place. Each crate takes viewers through a range of emotions that sex slaves feel throughout their journey, ranging from hope to desperation.
Viewers begin in a crate where they can look into a small hole and see figurines depicting the childhood of a girl prior to being trafficked. Another crate recreates the typical living quarters of the prostitutes. The phrase "help me" is scrawled on one mirror; another keeps a tally of the number of "men served" that day. The journey ends in a dark room that symbolizes what the victims feel and gives viewers an opportunity to reflect on what they have just seen.
Thompson, who is also an environmental activist, pioneered the installation in hopes of raising awareness about the crimes committed against women forced into sex trafficking. During a press conference before the opening of the exhibition yesterday morning, Thompson described the current state of the human trafficking world as being on a "hidden, domestic street level."
Thompson said she hopes the exhibition will encourage viewers to empathize with victims of trafficking.
"I want people to know for five minutes — five minutes — what it's like," she said.
Bloomberg also hopes the installation raises awareness.
"Isn't this something we should sweep under the rug?" he said. "I don't think so. Too many people are enslaved."
Helen Bamber, creator of human rights organization the Helen Bamber Foundation, described the situations the victims often face.
"The women are beaten, raped and starved into submission," Bamber said.
During the press conference, Sexton discussed NYU's involvement in the project.
"Great universities always lean forward and touch the provocative," he said, adding that the exhibition is effective because it "takes us most out of our comfort zone through art."
Students who attended the conference and viewed the exhibition said they were impressed with its objective.
"I think this is a really good opportunity to let students know what is going on outside of their lives," Stern junior Hannah Kim said.
The exhibition is open to the public until Nov. 15.
