Art Exhibit At Airport Raises Awareness Of Human Trafficking

There are a number of initiatives at the civic level aimed at raising awareness in the city. One initiative opened last week. The Center for Civil and Human Rights is curating an art exhibit at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport called “Freedom Expressions ATL.” It’s on display in the atrium of Concourse E. 

The exhibit features more than 50 pieces by students, but it also features the works of 11 professional artists. Tracy Murrell has four pieces on display, all of which focus on a different element of human trafficking: organ trafficking, reproductive trafficking, sex trafficking and the fourth highlights how anyone, no matter the gender or age, can be trafficked. 

While Murrell had never dealt with trafficking in her work before this exhibit, she employed the silhouette, an element seen in her other pieces. For her, because these are representations of images instead of full-formed images, silhouettes start conversations and raise questions. 

She scoured the Internet to acquire images that represented each theme she wanted to present and then filled the silhouette of the image with text featuring facts about trafficking. For example, the image above, which represents sex trafficking, has text that says over 300,000 children are trafficked in the United States each year. 

The artists’ works for “Freedom Expressions ATL” will be on display at the airport until July 22.