Traffik

by Norman Jean Roy, Kevin Bales (Contributor)

While on assignment for Glamour’s "Women of the Year" portfolio, photographer Norman Jean Roy was introduced to Somaly Mam, a former Cambodian sex slave who was being honored for her work rescuing women trapped in the sex industry and reintegrating them into society. Overwhelmed by her story and haunted by the faces of the women she’d worked with, Roy decided to spearhead Traffik, a project that would expose and elevate the grave reality and gross injustice of their experiences. In January 2008, Roy returned to Cambodia to begin the emotionally taxing work of photographing the victims of the country’s notorious sex trade. With the help of Mam and her organization AFESIP, Roy was given access to brothels, where he observed and documented the harrowing lives of adolescent and child prostitutes in situ, as well as AFESIP rehabilitation centers, where he interacted with those whose lives had finally taken a turn for the better, thanks to Mam’s tireless work. Captured in the book are the powerful stories of young women like Srey Ny, who was and beaten and raped by her family and sold to a brothel where she was tortured and starved, and Sok Muteta, who was sold by her mother for 10 U.S. dollars and was first raped at the age of four. Both girls were rescued and are now in AFESIP’s care. Traffik presents images of an industry that doesn’t just sell sex; young women and children are routinely bartered, exchanged, and sold across international borders, resulting in a soulless flow of human traffic. Part exposé and part call to action, Roy’s intimate and affecting photographs are aimed toward giving these victims a voice that will resonate across Cambodia’s borders. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation; learn more about how you can help fight sex trafficking at Somaly.org.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2008

Reviews

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are the faces on the frontline of Cambodia's sex trade. Sex slavery is not unique to Cambodia or modern times, but the vulnerability and lack of education and opportunities for economic advancement for Cambodia's women and children is heartwrenching. More than a few of the subjects were sold into a brothel by family members or "friends", one girl as young as five, though some were manipulated into the industry. There are few happy endings, but AFESIP does give some hope to a few girls who are learning new trades and/or getting some education.

[Spook Sulek · Rating 4 out of 5]

These photos speak volumes. The guarded look, suspicious, protective of other subjects in the photos is international, I think, and Roy captures it well. Not only do we feel the pain of those curled on the floor, but the heat, lack of clean water and available food, poverty and incapability of the situation is communicated. The dichotomy between playful fun mickey mouse and cartoon patterned clothes and the work these children and women are forced into is seen throughout, and the knowledge and wariness in children's eyes makes one pause. The photos of people in their rooms adn the ones in which subjects are supportive of one another I found most eloquent, as they show the facts of the situation comprehensively. Well worth your time, but not a cheerful book. The essays are also very well done.