All proceeds of Your lens to Social Change's expedition will go to COSA, the Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia, to help support its programs and the children residing at the “Bann Yuu Suk" shelter located in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The ‘Your Lens to Social Change’ expedition will guide you into a number of remote regions within Southeast Asia. These regions are focal points for traffickers that prey on people and young children; children who will become victims, and one of the 2 million children who are trafficked in Southeast Asia each year.
With access to these remote Hill Tribe regions, you will experience and photograph the daily reality of those residing within these communities. Talking to local villagers, visiting shelters and emergency camps, will allow you to gain an understanding of the challenges these people face in their daily lives, and in turn the impact your contribution will have on the lives of victims and their families.
The rescued victims of this inhumanity live their lives in the shadows of their experiences. Some maybe only for a short time, others live half their lives in abuse. Encouraging a community that comes with a feeling of safety, support and nurturing is a complex task for both the child and those providing shelter. Child trafficking is a cycle of violence that need to be broken, and only through social awareness and the rehabilitation of victims will we be able to prevent children from becoming victims.
Providing these children with a community of support, hope and a positive future is what I am able to create though photography. Founding the non profit organization COSA, Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia, I am able to channel profits from my photography into providing victims of trafficking with a positive future. COSA provides shelter to child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in addition to working within the community to raise awareness and work towards means of prevention.
Communities of Human Trade.
The ideologies surrounding the term ‘Community’ are in constant change and provoke many different feelings depending on the context it is found. For some, a community provides a sense of unity, support and empowerment; for others community restricts freedom, brings fear and holds dark undisclosed stories within its circle.
Working within a community where human trafficking is a daily reality for many; the perception of community is not one that creates a feeling of support, but rather fear, abuse and abandonment. Amongst this communities most vulnerable people are children; children with no rights, no affection and living in terror. It is these children who have become my focus, my passion and my life.
These children are born into communities who live in poverty, have no nationality or legal rights. They are displaced by their native countries, yet are not recognized by their destination country; they are nonexistent, and are therefore not protected under any laws. These communities are exploited, abused and neglected by those who seek to take advantage of their vulnerability and use these people for labor, selling and buying humans in underground trade markets. Children are of high demand; they have no voice, are easily trained and are small enough to be hidden away from disapproving eyes.
The illustrations of my work represent the diverse perception of the term ‘Community’, and the effects communities have on the lives of those within them. The sequence of images depict women and children residing in communities, trapped in poverty, vulnerable to abuse and trafficking rings; those who are victims, restricted from freedom and disempowered; and those who have found shelter, learning to trust the safety of a supportive community.
