I was asked by Freedom 58 Project to create a portrait of someone who had been freed from human trafficking. Robert Swenson, who co-founded the organization with his wife, contacted me saying that he was looking for portrait artists whose work he admired and asking if they would paint a portrait of someone who had been freed from slavery.  The portraits will be part of a traveling exhibition used to inform the public not only about the injustice of slavery, but also about the hope for those who break its bonds.

I was sent several photographs and chose to paint a young woman from Thailand.  I did not know her story yet or what conditions she lived under.  An 11x14 canvas arrived along with an 8x10 photograph of a young woman, with a shy smile, wearing a white scarf and standing in a building.  In her hand was part of a card granting her citizenship.  The reference was not the best for painting but that allowed me to make up my own interpretation of hope for her.  I wanted bright colors and a sense of sunlight and open sky.  I dissolved part of the building she is standing in so it could create shelter but then open up to the outdoors.   Any plane of her that was facing upward I colored with the blue sky and the downward planes reflected her shirt and the bright green grass.  As an artist I chose to paint her and her future bright and full of sunlight.

Along with the photo and the canvas was a book called, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.  It is a powerful book that is both heartbreaking and hopeful as it follows the plight of women around the world who have escaped bondage and found new lives filled with respect and love.