Trafficked women use photographs to tell their unimaginable stories

Survivors of human trafficking are sharing their stories in a participatory photography project, using pictures to express the experience of being sold into captivity.

The women, aged 18 to 30, from West and East Africa and Eastern Europe, have created a series of photographs to speak to an experience suffered by millions of unheard survivors around the world.

Each image carries a striking caption that expresses the photographer’s feelings and, often, recounts her story of being sold and then trafficked across deserts and borders in trucks or by boat.

Leila Segal, director of the Voice of Freedom project, said: “We are facilitators, creating a space, but the participants are bringing the content and leading the direction. The project is about amplifying their voices.

“Usually they’ve been in a position of poverty – perhaps their parents have died leaving them homeless or being taken care of by a distant relative – which leaves them vulnerable in their home countries to meeting a trafficker who either pretends to be a boyfriend or offers them a chance to work abroad and improve their lives. That person then literally sells them to someone else, into captivity.”

The project, which has worked in collaboration with Amnesty International, the Helen Bamber Foundation and Anti-Slavery International, is not intended as art therapy but it does empower the women to re-frame their stories in their own creative style (similar to the Spiral of Containment project which works with survivors of rape).

Leila said: “To tell your own story on your own terms when you’ve been invisible and disempowered puts you back in control. That’s really important for these women whose sense of agency has been completely taken away. This work gives that back, supporting them to communicate their story publicly to the world.

“It’s also empowering to be able to share your story with other people who have been through similar experiences. It’s a chance to step back and emotionally evaluate what you’ve been through – a chance women in this kind of situation often don’t have.

“What they have been through is terrible, but if they feel that experience can be of use to the world to help prevent suffering and promote understanding, that makes them feel their experience was not purposeless.”

A selection of the images are featured below.

Trigger warning: These captions contain experiences of torture and gender-based violence.

⬆Efe Bella, 22, from Delta State, Nigeria: “This picture reminds me of the journey, when we were about to enter the desert. When they put us in the hilos [truck], that’s how we sat. I saw them start arranging people and I was afraid.

“Even on top of the sea, this is how I sat, and I cried throughout. Almost 12 hours in the boat. We are more than hundred. We can’t see the sea because girls have to sit in the bottom of the boat.

“I sit like this whenever I am depressed. My dream is to become an accountant but because of the situation we are in now, we can’t easily access education. If you want to go to university you need resources, back-up, connections. But you just turn out to be – black.”

⬆Greatness, 24, from Benin City, Nigeria: “I thought I was going to Europe, not Libya. Libya was never my destination.

“They said I’m going to use my artistic handiwork to work here in Europe. They said that whites don’t normally do it – so it’s the blacks who make cakes, decorations, marriage parties. They said, if I come here, I’m going to do that.

“My trafficker was not a woman, it was a man. When he take me home, he said I should follow his sister to go to work. He say I’m going to see the work when I get there.

“I want to use my hands to work, not my body. So I said, ‘This was not the agreement.’”

⬆Bibi: “Most things you see in London are coloured red. Most of the things in the country I come from are green.”

⬆Self-portrait by Desta Getaneh, early 20s, from Ethiopia: “Refugees who pass through this experience are really different – although we are human beings and we have our bodies on us, the people who pass through the process are really new. They have a different personality though they look the same.

“I left my home because I was taking care of myself from the age of 10, the year that I matured. And at 10 I was supposed to get married: I was promised to a man. I was on my own and I came to live in Addis Ababa.

“When I was 20, I met a man who had worked in Sudan for some time – and seeing my situation he suggested: ‘You could improve your life, you could go and work in Sudan and then come back to Ethiopia and learn – you know, improve yourself.’ I said, ‘yes, ok, if that’s possible’ because I was in difficult times. So from Addis I left with him. We went to a place called Gondar, which is 700km from Addis; and in Gondar, in my own country, he sold me. I thought he was going to take me to Sudan but he sold me to another person.

“Of course I’m not ashamed of having been trafficked. There are so many people who are ashamed of it and don’t want to tell the story, but I’m not. People have to learn from this experience and I’ll tell it. With these few pictures and what will be written on them, other people can potentially learn.”

⬆Emmanuel Joyce, 24, from Edo State, Nigeria, was sold in Mali by an aunt: “Many people use this to iron clothes. But there is another thing they use the iron for.

“Most of the madames that brought girls to Europe use the same iron to maltreat people. They use it when the girls refuse to pay the money. They will plug the iron and put it on her body.

“Even a friend of mine, she showed me her back where her madame plugged the iron and press it on her. It is very bad for a human being to use an iron that is plugged, to put it on someone’s body, all in the name of money.”

⬆Emmanuel Joyce: “I took this picture for two reasons. The first reason is, when I was in Libya, when we were in ghetto, we slept like this. No fresh air, nothing nothing. Some people even died there.

“And the second reason why I took this picture is, this is how people died in the boat while crossing to Europe.”

Find more of the images created by the women in the gallery below.

"Trafficked women are used like dolls, without spirit or feelings – like stuff that should be sold. They have to look beautiful like things in advertisements, so they can be sold." Chloe, courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

"That wall reminds me of those days when we were in Libya, the prison, how we can’t escape. We have to see the brightness of the sun through a hole, and even money cannot pass through that hole. It’s under the gate and the men give us biscuits, just something that will sustain us for the day. I told you how I was trafficked, how I was kidnapped. They were asking for ransom, a huge ransom. It was more than the money that we bring. The emotion of the building, the way that I took the picture, it shows that it’s a prison where people have been trapped. No food, nothing. It’s really important, it’s one of my favourites." Okunbowa Osamunde courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

"These are my shoes. One is rotten and the other is a little bit new. The picture signifies my feet, and my feet signify my journey – one behind and one ahead. The one behind represents back then – Nigeria, Libya. It was so horrible, and that’s why you see the rotten shoe, something that reminds me of so much pain. The shoe at the front is life – this is my current stay in Europe. You understand, it’s a step I have to take." Stef courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

"When I look at this picture I have a memory of detention. My life was like this. When I see the gate and the key, I remember things about my life – secrets, things that are inside. A lock belongs to you – you can open it if you want to, or keep it closed. But if you lock everything inside your heart it’s very bad for you. If you tell people about your difficult life they can help you. Don’t be afraid to tell." Haimanot courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

"This picture is showing I’m surrendering myself to the Italian government, like I need help. My country is dying of hunger, bad economy, so I am opportune to be here. I am alive, I am safe – please just help me. Help me in any way you can. Take me as a child, as a sister, as a friend – I am yours." Okunbowa Osamunde courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

"You have to trust people, but first you have to know them. You have to get close to them – not just see from far away. This picture uses perspective to express the idea of trust. In the foreground it is me, and in the background another person. I trusted my boyfriend and I went to live with him, but he lied to me. He said, “I am going to marry you.” He worked like this – to sell women. He just came to meet people, like a girlfriend, and he took them to sell." Gena Cupi courtesy of Voice of Freedom.

" When I took this photo I felt my dried-up life. It symbolises us – refugees. In others’ eyes we are like this – lifeless. But we have had life, and we can still have life. Please do not treat us like waste. With time we become different life forms – without us, these already withered leaves or husks, how would the earth become nutritious again?" Fruit of Love courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"My grandmum came up with this idea that there is a lady in France that is our family member, but I didn’t grow up to meet the lady. The lady said she want to come and take me from Nigeria to Europe so she can help me further my education – I can continue from where I stop. Hearing that, I was happy because I would be able to take care of my junior brother – he is the only family I have left. So I told my grandmum okay. She told me to get ready, then took me to a park where we can enter bus. And that’s how I got to Benin. From there, a man took me with some other people that were going to Italy. From bus the man change us to hilos [truck], and that’s how I got to Libya. I spent a long time in Libya. They put me in a house. The house was fence around. The ladies there were not allowed to come out." Tessy Gold courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"“My mum had nine kids. She did up to 30 different jobs in one month. She became a bricklayer, she can go with wheelbarrows, pans, fresh water for people, all because she wants to feed her kids. Yes, she had a husband, but my dad wasn’t a caring type at all. He had six wives. We the children had to stay for two nights with maybe two cups of gari [cassava mash]. We had to wait with our cup standing in the rain – it was the only way we could get clean water." Stef courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"My mother had to sell the family home, and separated from her husband, to send the money for my ransom – and that took away the future of my siblings as well. Mostly, relatives send money to pay the ransom at the last minute – when they’re not even sure if the person who has been kidnapped will survive. It’s no use for people to be given a lot of money once they’re in danger and in trouble. Those people who can help others, they should do it when the help can actually save them. Relatives who could have given the person money to survive while they were in their own country are sending it when it’s too late. It doesn’t mean anything when people send money for coffins." Desta Getaneh courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"I brought these shoes with me from Ethiopia. Someone decided to give me a pair as a present – as a sign of affection – two weeks before I started my journey. Without these shoes, I probably would have made the journey from Ethiopia to Israel in my bare feet. I remember how on the journey I used them as shoes during the day, and at night they were my pillow. These shoes are still here with me. They remind me of everything I’ve been through, and I will always keep them." Desta Getaneh courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"This place reminds me of the journey going into Egypt. It was a very cold place and the traffickers heard that there were police on the border, and so they wanted us to stay here because they didn’t want to run into the police. And here in the very cold place there was no food, no water – there was nothing – but we stayed here for three days, and we were surrounded by the traffickers. We could see the city but we couldn’t go across because we were surrounded by them. Actually, there were four people who tried to get there – to the town that we could see. They escaped and almost made it, but the traffickers caught them. The traffickers brought them back and it was really difficult to see how they beat them in front of us." Desta Getaneh courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"This is exactly the type of truck that we were travelling in after we were sold, going into Sudan. We didn’t see the capital in Sudan, but in Egypt, in Cairo, we saw that we had arrived because we saw the sign. They were trying to avoid the traffic police asking questions, so they put us in here and it looked like goods being transported. Before we stepped in the truck, we were told clearly that we were sold – they told us who sold us, for how much and where we were headed. In the truck, because everyone knew that they were sold, they could potentially scream and call attention, so there were people in between us who had knives, to make sure... They showed us that if anybody tried to scream they would kill them, right there. Nobody wanted to ruin his or her life, so nobody did that – or if they did, they would kill that person and set an example in front of us." Desta Getaneh courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"I love animals. Back in Nigeria I don’t play with them, because most animals they are very very dangerous. But here I love to touch them and play with them. Here I attend animal school – it’s called ‘Agricoltura’. I studied different types of animals, cows, pig, fowl – they told us how to train them. It’s not just animals, it’s farm work. We studied how they plant the rice. We even learned how to make latte – how to drum it out of cows. Here in Italy you can turn your hand to anything. One day I might have the opportunity to work in any of these things." Unity Jay courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"I took this picture like someone who is in darkness, just coming out. Like they have been in darkness for years, now they come out to see the light." Unity Jay courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"There is a story that you tell, and a story that you don’t want to tell – but there are some stories that I want a lot of people to see, very clearly, from my own experience. There are things that you go through and want to tell other people, and it makes you feel better. Some of the things that could be told are: they used to force us into taking drugs, and used to bury people alive, and we have seen them beheading people. The light gets in – you can let it in and it’s positive. But the darkness it doesn’t let you in – it just swamps you, and that’s what it does." Zenebech Zeleke courtesy of Voice of Freedom

"I love this picture because whenever I look at her personally I look at her as my childhood friend. There is a friend like that, not she, but they look alike so much. We were brought up together, her name is Dami. The church I attend, her dad is the owner of the church, my dad is the second in charge of the church and that was how they brought us together since two years old. Later, her mum and dad broke up and her mum left, so her dad married another wife who started maltreating them. Suddenly Dami just got missed – they were like, ‘Dami has travelled, travelled to abroad,’ – this and that. Meanwhile, later we find out that they took her to one village for slavery – her dad sold her. There was no money, that is why they sold the girl." Sarah Oluwatimileyin courtesy of Voice of Freedom

All photographs are copyright of the photographers and are not to be reproduced or shared in any form without prior written permission from project director Leila Segal.