Freedom & Confinement: Anti-Slavery Art Exhibition

From the 9th-12th of march the Anti-Slavery Society hosted their very first art exhibition in Bristol city centre. Joining forces with ARTofficial (the university fine art society) the exhibition theme was Freedom and Confinement. The theme was chosen to highlight the plight of trafficked men and women, who are confined to a life of servitude. The idea of Freedom and Confinement gave inspiration to all our lovely artists who worked so hard to produce all of the artwork.

The exhibition was held in the crypt of St John the Baptist Church, an ideal, atmospheric location. On the opening night, sounds of jazz wafted through the streets and free drinks were flowing. The crowds drawn from the University and from the general public were far larger than expected. The Artwork submitted was in the running for a friendly competition judged by the curator of the art galleries at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Throughout the weekend we collected money for Unseen UK, a Bristol based trafficking charity. Unseen(uk) is a charity established to disrupt and challenge human trafficking at all levels. Through their sponsor a room programme you can directly play a part in providing safety, hope and choice for exploited women. Donations go towards survivors living costs and allows them to access support services.

In the face of recent cuts, Unseen(uk) has championed the effort for a new safe house for trafficked women in Bristol. We are glad to report that we raised almost £200 for the cause!

Anti-Slavery Hosts the Student Restaurant

Last week, the Bristol Anti-Slavery society hosted Student Restaurant in order to raise awareness of modern day slavery. Student Restaurant is a project run by FoodCycle, a non-profit organisation that is operated by setting up groups of volunteers to collect surplus produce locally and prepare nutritious meals in unused professional kitchen spaces, to serve the community.

The night was a great success as over fifty students descended on the Union for a hot, nutritious and cheap meal. It's incredible that approximately 1.3billion tonnes of food intended for human consumption gets lost or wasted each year. The Anti-Slavery team were astounded when we saw the amount of food collected by the FoodCycle team in just one day. There were mountains of bread, veggie curry and even extra doughnuts for dessert, all of which would have been simply thrown away. 

Student Restaurant often asks different societies to 'host' for the night. It's a great platform to talk about different ethical and environmental issues with a wider section of the student population. It was a tad nerve-racking introducing the evening and the cause. Students tend to have varying levels of knowledge about modern day slavery and so we tried to tell them about Anti-Slavery International without being patronising. 

After the main course we screened the 'Hell on Earth' DVD made by Anti-Slavery International. It was a great way to raise awareness about different forms of slavery. The DVD also managed to capture the audience's attention (partially because we turned it up to full volume) and people were really engaged, asking questions about the society.

We also managed to pass out some postcards for the 'Slavery-free London' Campaign and got loads of signatures. Some of the Anti-Slavery team even walked away with some luxury 'taste the difference' bread that wasn't even stale!

No doubt, we'd all love to work with FoodCycle again and we'd recommend setting up a similar activity in a university or community kitchen. 

Amina Makele

Bristol University