In Plain Sight was an exhibition and public presentation of investigative projects about human trafficking and forced labor in the USA with work by Nina Berman, Michael Genovese, and Jon Lowenstein. Human trafficking, sexual slavery and forced labor, once thought of as international crimes, are now recognized as serious domestic issues, with thousands of cases reported each year across the USA.
Michael Genovese and Jon Lowenstein travelled the US by car, conducting interviews with survivors of forced labor to bring awareness to the extreme cases of victimization, which were happening in plain sight. They met a remarkable group of people who’d endured varied levels of deception and abuse, shared their stories of debt bondage, human trafficking, child labor, and prostitution. Genovese and Lowenstein traced these intimate stories through photography and video, experiencing the psychic residue left behind in small towns, truck stops, trailer parks, and hotels where these incidents took place, and continue to occur.
The project resulted in an exhibition at Chicago at Art Works Projects that included the documentation by Genovese and Lowenstein, and presented Nina Berman's photographs from her on-going investigation on the subject. Exhibition programming included a roundtable discussion with other artists, advertising creatives, non-profit service providers, and law-enforcement officers, outlining a public engagement campaign aiming to raise awareness and funds to benefit human trafficking victims.
In Plain Sight was commissioned by NOOR Foundation as part of MODERN-DAY FORMS OF SLAVERY, a project designed to raise awareness of the epidemic of modern day slavery through a series of photo narratives. This project, produced in partnership with LexisNexis International, toured globally in as an exhibition.
