Bound to Freedom
Bound to Freedom, A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery documents the lives endured by people in modern slavery and celebrates the freedom they never dreamed possible. Bound to Freedom is a powerful statement about one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. The images capture the experience of a moment lived in slavery, allowing the viewer to peek into the lives of those who have been trapped in the cycles of exploitation. What we see are two undeniable truths – the extreme brutality of the situation, and the resilience of the human spirit. The exhibition portrays survivors who are now rebuilding their lives and helping others to freedom.
Bound to Freedom shows how 50 million people are currently trapped in modern slavery. In fact, there are more people in slavery than at any other time in human history. Victims are forced to work in brothels, factories, mines, farm fields, restaurants, construction sites, and homes. These people, more than half of them women and children, are paid nothing, they toil under threat of violence and are unable to walk away. That’s the bad news. The good news is also documented in the searing images. The percentage of people enslaved on the planet is the smallest ever and it is possible to end slavery in our lifetime.
The exhibition Bound to Freedom, A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery engages awareness and offers specific, doable, and effective ways for people to help make sustainable changes to eradicate slavery forever.
From the sweltering brick kilns to the rickety mine shafts, acclaimed photographer Lisa Kristine risked her safety and health to photograph the brutality of slavery today. Kristine documented the work of Free the Slaves in three of the countries where the organization works on the frontlines of modern day slavery. Free the Slaves works around the world with the powerful and the powerless, helping people to freedom and taking on the systems that allow slavery to exist. The group identifies real-world solutions and implements those solutions, documenting the impact so that it can be replicated and so that the stories of survivors can inspire others to action. Together with the Human Thread Foundation, the mission of Free the Slaves is to eradicate slavery in our lifetime.
Bound to Freedom was created to inspire sustainable change at a local, national, and global level through education with visual storytelling accompanied by information and curriculum on slavery today. Learn more about the Bound to Freedom Exhibitions.
Too many of us, when we first see slaves, we see only victims and pain. Lisa breaks through our misconceptions and shows us the truth: people who have been enslaved are just like us, full of dreams and hopes, knowing pain, yes, but also joy, human in their essence and their actions. Her powerful work is liberating, both to those in slavery and to the rest of us.”