Calleja, Stephanie

English

Liberty University Digital Commons

RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT I have chosen to submit a project I have completed for ARTS 371. It is for a museum exhibit called Unbound: Breaking the Bonds of Modern Day Slavery. Unbound confronts the issue of modern day slavery and human trafficking by displaying the problems that many people face today as well as the solution. Slavery is the business of stealing freedom for profit and with about 40 million people trapped in modern day slavery, this has become an issue that needs to be prevented more than ever. There are many ways in which people become trapped into slavery mainly through coercion, force, or fraud. Many Americans think since the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, slavery and the loss of freedom has diminished and while it has significantly improved there are still so many suffering and are struggling to find freedom. In fact, there are several ways that freedom can be stolen from someone; the three most popular ways being sex trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage. There are many ways to raise awareness of the issue of slavery and my purpose in designing the exhibit was to display both what slavery means and to give hope by providing both an educational and interactive experience. COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVE Through my museum exhibit, my goal was to communicate the importance and the urgency of human trafficking and modern day slavery. I wanted to convey that, even though it is not talked about often, human trafficking is something that is not to be thrown aside. It is a bold and powerful topic that needs to be addressed. However, slavery can be heavy and I wanted to communicate the importance of the problem as well as the importance of finding a solution to an audience of all ages. One way I intended to achieve this, was by creating an exhibit that ultimately displayed hope to the audience and ended with a way that the audience felt as though they had made a difference. I wanted to have an exhibit that was both educational and interactive because I believe that through knowledge and experience, people can really make a difference as well as an impact on those around them. I also relied on color and design styles to communicate the message of ending human trafficking and rescuing those in slavery successfully to my audience. I figured that by using bold colors, bold text, and a modern style I would be able to express the heaviness and importance of the issue as well as the fact that human trafficking is still relevant today. VISUAL SOLUTION As a solution to my communication objective I designed two interior wall graphics as well as an exterior graphic, a handout, and a video describing my process, the purpose, and the art behind the exhibit. For my first interior graphic, I split it into two parts, the problem and the solution. In the first half, I briefly discussed the problem of modern day slavery and decided to have a large bold wall to represent this issue. I used a bright red, black, and white to display this as well as a large black and white image to capture the attention of the audience as well as to provide an emotional connection between the audience and the topic. The solution portion of this graphic looked very similar to the problem with the same layout and colors to show that they went together. However, with the solution, I provided a different image to show the emotion of freedom which represented the solution.  On my second interior graphic, I decided to make it more interactive. I wanted to promote more of a hopeful environment on this wall and decided to use it as a way people could support the End It Movement and make others more aware of the issue of human trafficking. I did this by turning it into a wall where those passing through could use it to take a selfie with a red “X” on their hand and post it to social media to educate those they know because raising awareness is the first step in ending slavery. This wall was designed with the same red, black, and white with a large red “X” in the center to represent the End It Movement. On the left there is directions to guide those passing through.  For my exterior graphic, I created a design to be placed in a shopping center display. The graphic is red with a large white price tag that reads “you cant put a price on FREEDOM” and it has the logo as well as the date and location of the exhibit. For my narrative literature piece, I made a 6 fold brochure that those who enter the exhibit could keep to be reminded of the issues of slavery, what to do if they recognize someone trapped, and how they can make a difference. I kept the design modern and bold to match the exhibit and a size that is convenient to carry around.HOW IT WAS PRODUCED I created my exhibit by first designing my logo. I did this by researching the topic of modern-day slavery extensively. I then wrote words out that reminded me of freedom and the issue of slavery. I ultimately came up with Unbound because those trapped in slavery feel as though they cannot get out and ultimately, like they are in bondage and tied down. I sketched out several images from the words that I wrote out and decided to design my logo with the “u” and the “n” connected to show bondage and then separate the letters for “bound”   On my second interior graphic, I decided to make it more interactive. I wanted to promote more of a hopeful environment on this wall and decided to use it as a way people could support the End It Movement and make others more aware of the issue of human trafficking. I did this by turning it into a wall where those passing through could use it to take a selfie with a red “X” on their hand and post it to social media to educate those they know because raising awareness is the first step in ending slavery. This wall was designed with the same red, black, and white with a large red “X” in the center to represent the End It Movement. On the left there is directions to guide those passing through.  For my exterior graphic, I created a design to be placed in a shopping center display. The graphic is red with a large white price tag that reads “you cant put a price on FREEDOM” and it has the logo as well as the date and location of the exhibit. Lastly, for my narrative literature piece, I made a 6 fold brochure that those who enter the exhibit could keep to be reminded of the issues of slavery, what to do if they recognize someone trapped, and how they can make a difference. I kept the design modern and bold to match the exhibit and a size that is convenient to carry around. 

Unbound: Breaking the Bonds of Modern Day Slavery

https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&amp;context=research_symp

Unbound: Breaking the Bonds of Modern Day Slavery

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