In You We Trust

In You We Trust is a collaboration between artists Jen Rose and Marian Lefeld in an effort to bring awareness to the epidemic of sex trafficking of children in the United States. The sex trade is the world’s fastest growing illegal industry today, gaining ground and surpassing that of illegal drugs.  Studies cited by law enforcement and advocacy groups conservatively estimate that 100,000 children are enslaved in the sex trade in the United States.  Many of these children are homeless or runaways. 

The Dallas Independent School District reports that six thousand of its students are homeless and studies from the National District Attorneys Association estimate that one out of every three children will be approached by a pimp within 48 hours of being on the street. Staggeringly, this means that two-thousand children are potentionally sold each year in Dallas county alone. We aim to create an installation that will bring attention to this social issue and open pathways for discussion and awareness to a wider public.

Keeping the number “2000” in mind the artists will create two thousand gold coins representing the number of homeless children possibly trafficked on the Dallas Streets. The coins will be six inches in diameter and will be made from clay.  The coins represent the practice of using children as currency.  In You We Trust gives a visual form to the statistics and it is powerful to realize that each coin represents a child.   The word “You” in In You We Trust is a call of the audience to action and not to turn a blind eye to human trafficking.

We need your help! A $5,000 grant  from the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs helped us get started and has paid for 4,500 lbs of clay, gold paint, tools for volunteers, and energy costs.  We need to raise money to pay for 1,000 linear feet of molding for the installation as well as web hosting and advertizing.  Most importantly, we need money to travel the exhibition to other locations in the U.S.  The coins are heavy, and if we reach our goal of showing at three other locations in the Americas we will spend $5000 in shipping alone.  Many in the U.S. think this only happens in other countries.  Help us raise awareness.

If money is raised surpassing our $13,500 goal In You We Trust will split the additional funds with Traffick911, a Dallas-based organization that works with Homeland Security to combat sex trafficking. http://www.traffick911.com/