Dana Popa

The ‘Not Natasha’ exhibition is moving and upsetting but an issue that needs to be brought to light. Creating an awareness of sex trafficking of young girls taken and forced into a life of misery.

As I explored the exhibition my eyes fell upon a lady, sorrow and desperation exhumed from her tearful face.
This image shows an older woman standing in front of a backdrop of a waterfall, she is holding a small photograph of a girl out stretched in front of herself. This image displays bright colours and with the waterfall backdrop there is a contrast between a setting of tranquillity and peace opposing the older lady whom is quite the opposite in emotion.
The backdrop in this image holds many linear sections with the woman standing very central against it but keeping the waterfall in full view. This only aids in the contrast of her emotions and the emotions that attempt to combat with the woman we see. One can suggest that this is a way of depicting the truth about sex traffic and the disguise of this from those that appose.

Although one can only make assumptions on this image as to the meaning behind it I believe that we can safely suggest that the small photograph we see the woman holding is one of her daughter, a daughter that was taken from her mother for use in sex trafficking. When I gaze through the gates to the soul this woman draws out of me raw emotion, pain, suffering and a lose only a parent can feel. I know that what I feel will fade as I go about my life but for this one lonely lady hers has been unlawfully taken from her. A search that will never end for her until the loved one is returned or until this woman’s dying day.

As much as this image alongside the accompanying images of the exhibition needs to be seen in the public eye I find myself upset, angry and most of all thankful that things have taken a shift forward in the motion to have this abuse ended. This issue does not only lie in the poorest countries of the world but are still very much present on our doorstep. The streets of Soho hold dark secrets that will unravel as time and attention moves this issue into the light. Those that have been thrust into a way of life no-one should ever have to live will be freed but the question is how long must they wait, till enough people care to help liberate them.

Sarah Johnson