Background:

Founded in Fall 2007, the “Survivor’s Quilt Project” is a creative art project to raise awareness about human trafficking, as well as provide a creative medium for the expression of stories and healing for survivors of slavery. This project was inspired by Victoria Lo and Aashika Damodar. Victoria Lo, a graphic arts designer was assigned to design a “digital quilt” on a global issue, and she happened to choose human trafficking. During this time, Aashika Damodar was writing her senior thesis titled, “No Pretty Woman: The Politics of the Trafficking Victim” in Anthropology, and very quickly realized that voices of survivors of trafficking were missing in majority of the literature about human trafficking. Her goal was to create a visual project for those who have experienced slavery. In order to truly understand human trafficking as an issue, it is integral to learn from both survivors and experts in the field. Both Victoria and Aashika put their ideas together to create a project would acknowledge the scope and impact of this global issue that exists in the shadows.  Thus the quilt was born.

As a team, STOP the Traffick quickly set off to work! Aashika, along with Co-Founder of STOP the Traffick, Tonia Bui worked diligently to make it happen. At the time, Tonia was seeking artistic means to allow for survivors to share their stories. To help fulfill Victoria and Aashika's goal of creating an artistic means of expression for survivors, Tonia secured sponsorship and donors for the project. Aashika worked with non-profit and service-providing organizations locally and abroad to implement the program, and worked with survivors of slavery. The Survivor's Quilt went from a mere idea to a beautiful reality.

This project aims to illustrate the enormity of human trafficking (both international and domestic) and most importantly, reveal the voices of those who have been enslaved. We also hope to empower activists and survivors by recognizing their agency in the anti-trafficking movement through this project. This project is meant to inspire people to action! We invite all who are interested in the anti trafficking movement to participate with us.

There are several aims of The Survivor's Quilt which include:

• To effectively raise awareness about the varied nature of human trafficking and slavery as the Survivor's Quilt tours the US and other countries
• To link international anti-trafficking initiatives throughout the world through a partnership program
• To offer opportunities for fund raising for anti-slavery initiatives
• To create a permanent archive of preserved memoirs and art by former slaves
• To reveal the stories of those trafficked in hopes of inspiring people to action!
• To be a component and support for rehabilitation programs
  

It is also our hope that The Survivor's Quilt Project will be used as an opportunity to do creative art therapy in rehabilitation centers. Art therapy is one of the best activities for psychosocial rehabilitation and can help survivors feel better about themselves, connect with others and have a safe space to express their feelings. We understand however that often times art therapy programs are costly. We invite organizations that wish to do art therapy to apply for a small grant to do such a program. Email us at info@thesurvivorsquilt.org to learn more.

Each panel of the Survivors Quilt is 16 x 16 inches. They are intentionally large so that each participant has an opportunity to share their stories, pictures, messages and creativity with the public.

As the number of survivors of trafficking grows, the quilt continues to grow and reach more communities with its beautiful images of awareness, hope and love.