This work was created by artist and curator of the show Amie Stone King. She began her creative process with the story Sold, written one night as she waited to cross Sixth St. in Austin, Texas. From there she worked with photographer Geoff Hammond to create a photo narrative. Her 3D installation piece, Isolation Room offers an invitation for all to enter the world of trafficking, experience isolation, and to feel hidden in plain sight.
Sold
I'll never forget what happened in that room. Well, not exactly a room, more like a bunker, a cell, prison. Not a normal kind of prison, though. Not one that closes you in with walls but one where they have a hold on your mind. It can almost be worse than a cage when they're inside your head. Talking, always talking, telling you these horrible things, lies, and you believe them because they're the only contact you have. Well, at least until they put you out on the street.
That's almost refreshing because at least you can see the sun, something that you occasionally see through the tiny window near the ceiling where they keep you. And you're so numb by that point, no, not even numb, that's not the right word. You're gone. You're soulless. They own you, but not just your body, they own who you are, the deepest parts of you. You're a robot, a trained pet playing a part. You forget that you're human. You forget that there is something outside of this absolute living hell that you occupy every single day that there is something else beyond the blocks, the chains, the ridiculousness of it all. How can some other human being actually do this to you? Control you like a puppet, a living doll.
But this only occurs to you in those very quiet, stolen moments when you catch a glimpse of your actual self. You wonder how you got here but strangely never consider how you'll get out because you're so resigned to this being your life.
You are sold.
