Dignity Portraits

First layer of painting. I will post more photos as the painting progresses.

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out an email account that I rarely use.  Most of the emails were spam and I was deleting entire pages of junk when one message caught my eye.  I can’t really tell you why I didn’t delete it with the rest.  It was from someone I didn’t know, had an attachment, and the heading wasn’t something that I knew anything about.  There was just a gentle nudge on my heart to check it out.

It was from a man named Robert Swenson representing a group called Freedom 58.  He had seen my profile on a website I’d completely forgotten about.  I had been invited to this group about ten years ago or so and I posted my contact info but never completed a page.  Sort of like my LinkedIn or Google Plus profiles.  Imagine my surprise when someone actually contacted me from this site (www.christiansinportraiture.com).   

Mr. Swenson introduced himself and the ministry he and his wife are heading and asked if I’d be willing to donate a painting to help end human trafficking.  I asked my husband if he’d ever heard of Robert Swenson, and he asked, “The All American football player?”  Yes, that would be him.  A former professional player for the Broncos was contacting me about portraiture for a ministry to work against human slavery.  This was getting interesting.

I started researching the Freedom Fifty Eight Project.  Part of Freedom 58 is this call to artists to donate their time to paint a portrait of someone who was formerly enslaved.  Essentially, creating dignity portraits.  Photos and canvases are supplied to the portraitist.  The Freedom Fifty Eight Project is looking for a significant number of artists for this project with the hope to develop exhibits to showcase the problem. The art exhibits are dedicated to raising awareness about modern day slavery and other forms of violent oppression.  The secondary purpose of the exhibits is to drive people to the web site www.Feedom58project.com for more information, resources and opportunities for action.

Once I realized this was a legitimate organization and request (as opposed to the “Dear Beloved, help me move money out of this country/ministry” scam), I contacted Mr. Swenson to ask more questions.  He was very helpful and soon I found myself volunteering to paint not one, but two portraits. 

Here are some things you may not know about modern day slavery…

There are 30 million slaves today

Human Trafficking is a $32 Billion Industry

2 million women and children are trafficked annually

Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world

Children as young as 6 years old are being trafficked

A large box containing photo reference materials, return postage labels, and canvases arrived this past weekend and Tuesday I laid in the first layer on one of the portraits.  As I was painting this lovely young woman who radiates dignity, I found I was praying over her.  It had been a lovely day.

This is a unique opportunity for artists to give the violently oppressed the first taste of dignity, beauty and hope through their own God given gifts and passion - in the form of a painting.  To participate and to get more detailed information on the vision and opportunity please email Bob Swenson at fsland@gmail.com.  To learn more about Freedodm Fifty Eight Project, go to http://www.freedom58project.com/about-us/purpose/

I hope you’ll join me in supporting this cause, and I hope you’ll share this information with others.

Peace.