Globally, there are an estimated 20.9 million victims of human trafficking, with around 60,000 enslaved in the US. Our research revealed that over 68% will see a healthcare professional during their captivity. But without a way to escape their captor’s watchful eyes during treatment, victims can’t reveal their exploitation and the source of their suffering.

To ensure that this campaign does not deter abusers from allowing human trafficking victims to seek medical care, we did not raise awareness through traditional forms of PR and decided to target only healthcare professionals. We launched the campaign in hospitals and at conferences with advocacy groups, as well as medical publications.

This execution flips the perspective, putting the viewer inside the victim’s body looking out toward the physician during an examination. The photo-CGI composite depicts the progressively seedy underworld of human trafficking reminiscent of Dante and Bosch. The viewer first sees what appears to be an innocuous scene, then passes through a darker more suspicious layer and finally to the outright cruel and hellish world of human trafficking—the true source of patients’ suffering.

By crafting the world of human trafficking through a patient’s own anatomy, we used the visual language of physicians, and dramatized that the problem is hidden within victims. The monochromatic and viscous texture, combined with the intense use of shadow, creates a world of suffering out of the patient’s tissue to portray trafficking as a pervasive disease. The only source of light and hope in the visual is the doctor—empowering them to intervene and help victims.