Events

For the month of November, the New Project Studio will host “Human Trafficking: Zine and Bookmaking Workshops,” a program affiliated with the ArtWorks for Freedom/ ACTIONDC!

Alice Quatrochi, artist and educator, will lead a team from George Mason University’s School of Art in hosting sessions with the public to create a small book (zine) about the subject of human trafficking. These hands–on sessions with simple materials are in response to the “Golden Doors to Freedom” show exhibited in the Torpedo Factory’s main atrium from October 3 to November 20.

Attendees can draw, pen written messages, collage newspaper articles, apply color markers, and collaborate together as family members to create their zine. The zines will be given to the participants who make them and others will be hung in the Project Room to build up a collection of public responses to the human trafficking issues. The winners of the ArtWorks for Freedom Poster Contest will also have their prize-winning images on exhibition.

Events

• Opening Reception – Zine & Book-Making Project – Thursday, November 9
  7:15pm
  • Reception for the Zine & Book-Making Project in the New Project Studio, in partnership with the Golden Doors Project. Michael McKeown, Executive Director, Homeland Security Advisory Council and Campaigns, will speak about the importance of this arts project in the face of global human trafficking.
    Part of Torpedo Factory’s Second Thursday/Torpedo Talks
• Talk & Book Signing – Barbara Amaya, Author of Nobody’s Girl – Saturday, November 11
  2pm
  • Author and Human Trafficking Survivor Barbara Amaya will read from her memoir, Nobody’s Girl.  Books will be available for purchase and signing. Barbara is an internationally recognized advocate, speaker, and author. Her column about human trafficking appears in The Washington Times three times a week. She is the recipient of the 2014 James B. Hunter Human Rights Award and gave a TEDx Mid Atlantic Talk in 2015. She lives in Arlington, VA.
• Talk – Rachel Stahle, NOVA-HTI (Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Initiative) – Saturday, November 18
  2pm
  • Rachel is an ESL teacher and first became interested in anti-trafficking efforts after attending a conference in college where she first learned about human trafficking.  Throughout her college years, she continued to encounter the issue and with each time, her heart would break again.  After graduating and moving to Northern Virginia, she heard more about human trafficking happening within the U.S. and her own community.  She felt led to pray about the issue locally, and eventually knew it was time to get involved.  She became a volunteer with NOVA-HTI in the summer of 2017 and is eager to spread awareness about human trafficking in this community.

About The Golden Doors to Freedom

“The Golden Doors to Freedom” is a participatory arts project that turns abandoned doors into dramatic vehicles for communal focus on human trafficking. Guided by master gilder William Adair, trafficking survivors and allies in the community will convert discarded wooden doors into freedom portals. After applying 23k gold leaf to the doors, participants will write, stencil, draw, scratch, burnish and embellish them with their own expressions about trafficking. “The Golden Doors to Freedom” provides a tangible way to bring people into the art-making process. Taking a battered old door and turning it into a beautiful work of art tells us about our own capacity to change perceptions and create empathy in the place of indifference. The group process concretizes individual survivor stories and the finished Doors provide a powerful public and visual representation of the commitment to eradicate human trafficking.
By creating freedom portals, survivors and allies together become a force for social change.

About Artworks for Freedom

The exhibition and workshop program is part of ArtWorks for Freedom | ACTION DC! a city-wide arts festival to raise awareness of human trafficking throughout the Washington, D.C. region. ArtWorks for Freedom, a nonprofit organization working nationally and internationally, uses all forms of artistic expression to inspire individual and community actions in the fight to end human trafficking. ACTION DC! will feature exhibits, films, dance, theatre, spoken word, participatory arts events and community conversations throughout October and November.
See artworksforfreedom.org/ACTIONDC! for more details.

About the Torpedo Factory’s New Project Studio

A community-focused arts incubator, The New Project Studio offers short-term space for artists, nonprofits, educators, and other creative professionals to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance visitor engagement.

Photo by Katie Licht/CC BY