Journey: an anti-sex trafficking exhibition

With some time to myself, I decided to explore the anti-sex trafficking exhibition in Trafalgar Square. It was set up in seven box cars that were painted in graffiti on the outside. They lined the top of the steps in front of the National Gallery. I took some photos of the outside:





Inside, it was a medley of strange sounds and smells. Key-shaped peep holes in the first carriage revealed hopes and dreams of Elena, the Albanian girl the story was based on. It was a true story of her journey to London at 19, coerced into the prospect of a better life by a woman who came by her market stall. The woman was paid to find innocent looking village girls to send abroad once she gained their trust.
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The second carriage was just black, dark, with a sign that asked you to close your eyes. It gave the sensation of movement, sitting inside a train carriage that was chugging along, transporting bodies. A soundtrack of a train’s wheels clicking over the tracks played loudly.
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Elena arrived in London Victoria and met a woman who turned out to be the person who she came to fear, who told her she owed her a ridiculous amount of money. She was given clothes to wear – high heels, little tiny dresses and thongs left behind by old workers. The third carriage showed face sized holes where you look in to see your face on a girl's body dressed in these little costumes.
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The next carriage was repulsive. Absolutely hold-your-breathe-repulsive. It was a bedroom scene with a tattered single mattress with the names of a thousand men who wrote “Ben was here. Jason was here. Ryan was here…” In one corner was a garbage pail, overflowing with used condoms and tissues. There were dingy lights. The room stank of stale cum and the rubber of used condoms. A dirty sink in the corner had a constant flow of water from the taps. The wallpaper was peeling. To get to the next carriage, you had to push your way through a flapping group of condoms strung together in long strands.
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The customers were next. There were giant photos of typical men you see on the street: the 22 year old kid playing football in the park, the large-bellied man running a convenience shop on the corner, the family man smiling with his kids. Her first customer was an Indian man who brought with him a carton of juice. He asked for a blowjob. She had never in her life seen a naked man. She had no less than 40 customers a day, 7 days a week. She made about £800-1,000 per day, of which she was allowed £10.
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Coincidently, I’m currently reading September’s issue of the New Internationalist which happens to be all about sex trafficking. 11% of men in the UK buy sex. There are an estimated 80,000 sex workers in Britain.
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Of all places, Elena was first employed for two weeks in a flat in Mayfair, one of the richest areas of London, rather than a seedier area of the city like Soho, where you almost expect that sort of thing.
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The next part of the tour was an art installation of what was no other than a big black hole that seems to draw you inside when you stand in a certain spot. That was to represent the stigma placed on the girls who have been victims of sex traffickers.
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Then we were led outside where we were handed a recorder to listen to, which was the voice of Elena telling her whole story. It was quite long, but very interesting as she added details that weren’t included in the exhibition. She was arrested with 100 other girls one day and locked up in a Charring Cross jail for two days for breaking visa laws. They never once asked if she was okay or how she got there. When she went home, she felt like a different person and couldn’t look her mother in the eye. Her mother was under the impression that she was doing well and would bring back money she saved for her family because her father had passed away and they were having trouble getting by.
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In the last carriage, the British laws of sex trafficking are written on the walls. Then you are led outside to a tent that is set up for questions and are asked to sign a petition.
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The exhibition has ended, but for more information, see http://www.helenbamber.org/

Glossy Recommendations

Print media, they say, is a dying art.

Not if I have anything to do with it.

I doled out at least £75 (nearly $150) on magazines and newspapers this month. Let’s not even talk about books. This is a bit higher than usual as I am on the prowl for new freelancing outlets, but not too much of an exaggeration from the norm.

My purchases:
The Purple Journal
American Cosmo
British Cosmo
Company
Elle
Seven
The Press Gazette
Smoke
Aesthetica
Amelia’s Magazine
The Big Issue
Glamour
Marie Claire
Marmalade
Mslexia
Scarlet
Adbusters
The Guardian
New Internationalist
Monocle
GQ

My mom also sent me a copy of American Jane and Graffiti was free.

All of these (besides Graffiti and The Big Issue) can be picked up at Borders on Oxford Street.

My name is Stephanie and I have a problem. I am a magazine addict. Clearly. And it’s nearly time for the August issues to hit the stands. Since I arrived in London, I have made a few marvelous discoveries, so I thought I would share 10 of my newfound favorites, in no particular order.

1. Smoke: A London Peculiar
Made up of words and images inspired by the city, it is described on the website as a “love letter to London, to the wet neon flicker of late-night pavements, electric with endless possibility...”. With a punchy personality, Smoke tells quirky tales of every day London life: art, history, comics, poetry… if it has to do with London, you’ll find it here in compact A5 form.
Don’t Miss: A regular article, complete with pictures, featuring “London’s Campest Statues,” captured by readers in all their camp glory. Editor: Matt Haynes
Web: http://www.smokelondon.co.uk/
Cost: £2.50
Published: “Aims to resurface every four months.”

2. Amelia’s Magazine
Run by Amelia and her work experience staff, this mag emerges twice a year from the spare room in her East London home. With detailed design and flashy colours, it exposes unknown bands and features drawings and photographs full of endless detail that could have your eyes rolling over the pages for hours.
Don’t Miss: Easily spotted in the racks, Amelia's Magazine is known for its unique covers. “Encrusted with Swarovski crystals, lazer-cut, made out of furry flock, scratch ‘n’ sniff in different flavours and glow-in-the-dark” varieties have previously sheathed the mag. The current issue is very shiny with yellow flowers.
Editor: Amelia Gregory
Web: http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/
Cost: £10.00
Published: Bi-Annually

3. Graffiti: London’s Art Magazine
A new A5 publication that is slightly more upscale than its name implies, Graffiti is distributed to selected homes in the posher areas of London: Belgravia, Kensington, Chelsea, Holland Park, Notting Hill and Hampstead. Image-packed, it is easy on the eye, providing information on both famous and amateur contemporary artists.
Don’t Miss: Fill in your little black book with loads of upcoming exhibitions and student art shows. There are plenty announced here.
Editor: Peter London
Web: http://www.graffitimagazine.co.uk/
Cost: Free, for now (Call 07795 074843 for a copy.)
Published: Quarterly

4. Marmalade Magazine
With a handmade, scrapbook-y sort of look, Marmalade appeals to its artsy readers, 23% of whom, according to the website, don’t read any other mag. The latest issue is built entirely from MySpace content, meaning the staff must have had a blast in the office last month.
Don’t Miss: The random tidbits of information, like this month’s enlightening fact that Playboy has been available in Braille since 1970.
Editor: Kristy Robinson
Web: http://www.marmalademag.com/
Cost: £4.25
Published: Bi-Monthly

5. Mslexia: For Women Who Write
It claims to be the UK’s bestselling magazine for women writers. The title plays on the word ‘Dyslexia’, a condition in dealing with words that is more prevalent in men. Mslexia refers to the difficulty of female writers to find their place as writers/authors in a world where men still dominate the press.
Don’t Miss: The flow of concrete, practical advice for writers, including the useful and informative 'writer's kit' which can be found on their website at http://www.mslexia.co.uk/writerskit/writerskit.html. The site also has a handy resources page.
Editor: Daneet Steffens
Web: http://www.mslexia.co.uk/
Cost: £5.50
Published: Quarterly

6. Aesthetica: The Cultural Arts Magazine
Sleek and shiny, Aesthetica focuses on contemporary writing, art, music and film. In 2006, Cherie Federico, the founder and editor, won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year by The Press Business Awards. The year before that, her magazine was nominated by BBC Get Writing as one of the top four recommended literary publications in the UK.
Don’t Miss: Like many of these magazines, Aesthetica has all sorts of side projects going on. For something a bit different, check out their creative non- fiction writing project for the elderly community at http://www.aesthetica-online.com/virtualmemorybox.htm online.com/virtualmemorybox.htm. It is meant to be a “virtual time capsule to be captured by other generations.”
Editor: Cherie Federico
Web: http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/
Cost: £4.50
Published: Quarterly

7. The Purple Journal
Expect a thick cultural collage of short stories and some artsy photographs, mainly black and white in this French publication. The summer 2007 issue boasts an impressive lineup of 47 contributors from 40 cities around the world from Berlin to Tokyo to Nashville, Tennessee. Most of the contributors are veteran published authors, photographers, filmmakers and musicians.
Don’t Miss: A cultural education at your fingertips while cozy’d up with this journal and a cup of tea on a lazy Saturday morning.
Editor: Elein Fleiss
Web: http://www.purple.fr/
Cost: £6.50
Published: Quarterly

8. Scarlet: The Magazine That Turns Women On
The “UK’s hottest women’s magazine” is burning up indeed with female-friendly erotica, a look into the complicated male brain, nude models who cover the bare minimum, and a bit of fashion to boot. A step up from the sex-driven Cosmo, this sex-splattered publication has been dubbed controversial by some. Read it in secret or share its powers. I’d choose the latter.
Don’t Miss: Cliterature, the free monthly insert of hot reading material, some pushing the boundaries, others a bit tame. Either way, it’s bound to get the imagination rolling and the rabbits buzzing.
Editor: Sarah Hedley
Web: http://www.scarletmagazine.co.uk/
Cost: £2.95
Published: Monthly

9. The Big Issue
Labeled ‘street trade, not street aid,’ 80p of the cover price goes directly to the homeless vendor who sells the £1.50 issue on the street. Not only is it for a good cause, but the content covers solid issues like the Uganda crises side by side with Hollywood’s latest gossip. It was set up as a business in 1991 to give homeless people a voice and a chance to help themselves by earning a bit of cash.
Don’t Miss: The opportunity to make someone smile when you purchase The Big Issue from them. It is a magazine that feeds the people who sell it and gives you some insight into their experiences at the same time. Editor: John Bird
Web: http://www.bigissue.com/
Cost: £1.50
Published: Weekly

10. Seven: Serious Issues from the Seven Continents
Another brand new magazine with high morals (check their website for more info). It was launched to push the boundaries of journalism, aiming to have a global impact by addressing key issues on every continent. Through culture, music, film, fashion and art, it hopes to expose injustice and crimes against humanity and try to offer solutions instead of just tossing around problems.
Don’t Miss: The cultural education and the chance to keep up with the major issues people are dealing with in other parts of the world. Some of the articles are truly eye-opening.
Editors (for this issue): Siradeth Seng and Lucy Stallworthy
Web: http://www.se7enmagazine.org/
Cost: £3.95
Published: Monthly

The Web may be taking the lead as people are becoming accustomed to receiving content the second it becomes available, but print media is still hanging on. All of these magazines have websites and most of them are used to foster the development of side projects sponsored by the publications and act as a supplement to the real magazine rather than a substitute.

It is my opinion that there will always be a market for print journalism. There is nothing like flipping the pages of a glossy between your fingertips.