Modern slavery, and the American photographer who is doing her bit to abolish it
At last month’s Thomson Reuters Anti-Slavery Summit the audience was spellbound by the stories, and images, of humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine. Sarah Lazarus spoke to her about her work
Lisa Kristine’s photographs are mesmerising. She has an extraordinary ability to make people look compellingly beautiful – even those who are living as slaves in horrific situations. We meet at the Asia Society, the venue for August’s Thomson Reuters 2017 Anti-Slavery Summit. The first question I ask is, what’s her secret – how does she do it?
“I feel like I arrive to people with an open heart, and that creates a sense of comfort that allows people to show their true, authentic selves to me,” she says. “My aim, always, is to show their dignity. My work is born of trust and intimacy.”
Like most people, Kristine was only dimly aware of the existence of modern slavery. She first learned the true scale of the problem while exhibiting her work at the Vancouver Peace Summit, in 2009. According to the Global Slavery Index, in 2016, about 45.8 million people were trapped in some form of slavery, with 168 million children engaged in labour. There are more enslaved people now than at any time in history.
“When I learned about the modern slave trade it hit me like a freight train,” says the American, who built her career taking photos of remote landscapes and cultures.
