Woah! It has been a long time since I’ve blogged. Way too long. In my absence I scored myself a fabulous new job. I’m truly truly excited about it. As a natural consequence though I had to spend the past month frantically handing over as much as I could to my old team. Thus why I’ve been slightly M.I.A.

But I’m back, and I’ve been dying to blog about a group of talented individuals called Designers Against Child Slavery (DACS). A Design Collective encouraging other designers from all over the world to take a stand against the global trading of child sex workers, the modern day form of slavery.

We are a group of artists with a passion for making a difference in our world. We leverage our unique gifts and styles to produce artwork, to raise awareness of the injustice of sex trafficking and inspiring others to use their talents to impact the world around us.

Designers from everywhere use their creative talents to design and submit a powerful and emotional piece of work depicting the sex trade to raise awareness and entice action against it. These submissions are then collected and displayed in a yearly exhibition. There have been 2 exhibitions so far and I can’t wait for this year’s collection to be displayed.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces of work from the exhibitions ‘Expose 2010′ and ‘Episodes 2011.’

“For sale customisable” by Liran Szeiman and Martin De Diego Sadaba. This piece is particularly powerful through the strong ‘dress-up doll’ reference. The child-like visual style juxtaposed with the rather adult imagery of condoms, battered faces and unborn babies are confronting and jarring, yet balanced so that it’s not so overly confronting that I can’t stand to look at it. Its success lies in its ability for the viewer to absorb the information without getting overwhelmed which is very difficult with such a sensitive topic.

“Designers against child slavery” by Jonathan Wong. Simplicity in its finest. I love the minimalist approach Wong has taken to represent loss, lost, and hopelessness. It is so simple yet so strong in its message and brings about a quiet reflection.

DACS by Sarah Blake. This piece is so sad yet so beautiful. Blake really captures the beauty of the child and I genuinely feel like reaching out and carrying her into a happier place.

I’m not sure who the artist is behind this particular painting. But I would love to give this person the proper credit if anyone knows who it is. I particularly love the symbolism of the lotus flowers, a beautiful flower that blooms beautifully from the mud despite all its obstacles. It is a powerful visual representation to represent the survivors of sex slavery.

My hope is that one day sex slavery will end within my lifetime. If you have been inspired just like me and would like to contribute to the cause either as an artist or through a donation visit the DACS website.

I’ve also listed out other amazing organisations that are fighting to end global sex trafficking.

• Somaly Mam Foundation - Somaly Mam is a wonderful and inspiring human being who was able to survive being trafficked as a child to become one of the leading advocates in the fight to end sex slavery. Her foundation helps raise awareness globally, end sex trafficking and help rehabilitate girls back into the working society. Simply inspiring.
• Project Futures: End sex trafficking - Project Futures is a partner of the Somaly Mam Foundation and was founded by an admirable individual who was inspired by Somaly Mam’s story and decided to do something about it. Stephanie Lorenzo is an amazing individual who is now dedicated to encouraging volunteers to raise awareness against sex slavery.
• Project Futures Global – The global platform of Project Futures which also helps people raise awareness in their own communities through simple activities like marathons or movie nights.

I sometimes do work for Steph and Project Futures and it is always one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done. I never feel I do that much, but the rewards are so much sweeter.

★

Jessa