DAMAGED by Richard Brooks, is the body of work we have chosen this summer to be featured as the cover of FUEL. His images seemed clean, direct and had this kind of tragic beauty that caught our eye.
Richard says: ¨I used dolls to represent victims of people trafficking. The dolls are resin based and, like the people they represent, fragile. The full series starts with a set of black and white portraits that speak of the ideali…sed image of the person who is then damaged by being trafficked.I chose a map as a device to address the issue of people trafficking, influenced by a couple of Guardian articles – a 2008 article included the key phrase “down your street” and a 2009 article included “across small towns and large cities”. The repetition of the map and the smaller images is indicative of the recurring nature of the problem of human trafficking. I was shocked to discover that there are currently more people enslaved by people trafficking than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade.The colour portraits, represent the damaged individuals.The prints are deliberately in glossy, reflective laminate. This was chosen so that the work interacts with the viewer, with the viewer glimpsing something of their own reflection. This added another layer to the work that speaks of our shared culpability in the suffering caused by people trafficking.
Other contributors participating in the summer issue of FUEL are:
Ingri Haraldsen, Claudio Parentela, Alvaro Sendra, Gracie Weinrib, Lavv Photography, Kara Seaman, Whathetreesee, Volathevist, John Broadley, What Surreally Matters, Studio Zlamal and Levi Miller.
Click and enjoy at http://www.flickr.com/groups/fuelmagazine/ http://www.rwbfineartphotography.com/Damaged.html
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