Shipping Containers Blog

Last September an exhibition made using shipping containers called “The Journey” was opened in Trafalgar Square.   This month this same exhibition opens in the US.  

Co-curated by actress Emma Thompson brings the reality of sex-trafficking to public attention.   Each of the seven shipping containers shows a different aspect of the life of Elena, a moldovan girl, sold into the sex trade when she was 19.

Shipping Containers are used to house the installation called "The Journey"

 The first shipping container is called Hopes, Dreams and Aspirations and shows the naivity of Elena and how she believed the promises of a good job as a receptionist in the UK.   From there a dark container filled with repetitive sounds speaks about the monotony and the violence of the journey to England.   A third container is called “Uniform” and projects the viewers face onto the bodies of prostitutes to show the lack of identity of sex workers.   The bedroom or workplace is featured in the fourth shipping container and the main focal bed is a filthy bed which pulses up and down.   The next container is a clean, neutral space with photographs of  people and represents “the customer”.  A sculpture is in the sixth container which is entitled the void that leads on the seventh and final container called “Language” in which Elena’s voice is played telling her story and that of other trafficked victims. 

Emma Thompson met Elena through the Helen Bamber charity of which she is Chairman.  “The Journey”  says Emma Thompson,  contains a message of hope. “It reveals — as I have learned from Elena and other survivors — the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit. It shows how, with support and care, these courageous women can rebuild their lives”.