The average age children first become victims of prostitution is twelve to fourteen, according to the FBI. To help raise awareness and combat this problem, Kelsey Rottiers, the singer of Midnight Wars, and I, with The Scarlet Cord, pooled our efforts for this music video. Kelsey and I have have discovered that we can make…
The Scarlet Cord can be described as street outreach—culture care to the most vulnerable in our communities. Visitors, struggling from child molestation, college date rape, or sex trafficking, verbalized their pain—maybe for the first time. Several actually laid their heads on my chest and sobbed. Thirteen women in West Michigan confided that they had been…
In partnership with Women At Risk International for ArtPrize 2014, my installation called The Scarlet Cord was housed in a 40-foot shipping container to raise awareness of human trafficking in the United States—the land of the free. That year, thirty thousand ArtPrize visitors received scarlet cords—a reminder to build a circle of protection around children…
Art’s interactive installation has a subtle power to serve as a healing catalyst. Visitors often experience new insight when given an opportunity to connect with the work. As the artwork begins to unlock the soul, the interactive installation becomes a place of hope and healing. Here’s an excerpt from Walker’s story that inspired an avalanche…
In 2012, Courage Ablaze included seven-foot pillars portraying Congo’s stories of rape and images of the fierce determination of Congolese women. An eight-foot copper tree, the Flame Tree, held charred frames representing the eight million people slaughtered in Congo’s holocaust. The small pillars portrayed the courageous survivors rising up out of the ashes and rebuilding…
Kara, a young woman, had been battling cancer for several years. To portray her story for ArtPrize 2011, I combined the paintings of Kara in Braving the Wind with an interactive metal Healing Tree. Visitors were invited to write notes, honoring loved ones struggling with cancer and then hanging the notes on the tree. This…
In partnership with the Go Red For Women movement, my 2010 ArtPrize work, called Woman in Red, features Natalie Ruggeri. Natalie, the model portrayed in the paintings, tells her story as a congenital heart survivor. Following heart surgery, Natalie offers this advice: “Listen to your symptoms. Don’t take things for granted. Cherish what you have.”…