Super Bowl Countdown With The Scarlet Cord

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The Scarlet Cord installation at dusk in Phoenix before Super Bowl

The Scarlet Cord exhibit brings awareness to child sex trafficking through powerful displays

Downtown changes ahead of big game

Big Game Count Down

The Scarlet Cord sits on a vacant lot between downtown Phoenix and the Cardinals’ stadium where the Big Game will be played on Sunday. This past week we have spoken to students, professionals, vagrants, tourists, and trafficked women. A couple of the volunteers have seen “made up” young girls enter the broken down hotel that overlooks The Scarlet Cord.

  • One woman said she was trafficked while her father was wearing the coveted Super Bowl ring
  • A passionate volunteer with a difficult past connected with the visitors
  • Another woman shared that she used to work this neighborhood. Her body bears the scars–gun shot wounds and stabbings—inflicted by the “Johns,” not her pimp
  • Another young woman was molested by her employer when she was in middle school
  • Some don’t share their story

We have been giving away small stones with “Hope,” or “Dream,” or “Believe” painted on them to a few guests. Something tangible to put in their pocket. A reminder that someone cares. It is amazing how much these stones mean to these women. A little love goes a long ways…

ArtPrize Meets the Super Bowl’s Sex Trafficking

Behind the Artwork

Tethered string art installedThe Scarlet Cord is in Phoenix to help raise awareness of sex trafficking. The Super Bowl is at the epicenter of the American sex industry. According to Forbes and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, roughly 10,000 prostitutes were brought into Miami for the Super Bowl there in 2010.

In addition to raising awareness, The Scarlet Cord installation can be an agent for healing as evidenced at ArtPrize 2014. Visitors struggling from child molestation, college rape, or sex trafficking verbalized their pain—maybe for the first time.

During the ArtPrize exhibition, women of all ages lined up every day to talk about their traumatic sexual experiences, hoping to experience some level of healing. One of my friends keenly observed, “There are a lot of hurting people out there.”

Once again The Scarlet Cord has an opportunity to speak to hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors to help educate them on the injustices within the commercial sex industry and to give victims an opportunity to work through their deep wounds.

The Scarlet Cord
813 N. 1st Street • Roosevelt Row Art District
January 23 through February 1, 2015
Daily 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sponsored by StreetLightUSA

The Scarlet Cord – Flourish Phoenix

Behind the Artwork

Tethered close-up

For five days beginning next Wednesday, downtown Phoenix will play host to an expected one million visitors, all anxious to be part of the unparalleled hype that surrounds the Super Bowl each year wherever it is played. There will be live music, great food, national sports broadcasts, and even a giant climbing wall reminiscent of the Grand Canyon.

Those who wander a few blocks north towards Roosevelt Row will find something else that may seem out of place: a 40-foot storage container with people streaming in and out.

Inside the container they will find The Scarlet Cord, an award-winning exhibit by artist Pamela Alderman. The exhibit, which opens January 23 and runs through February 1, will be open from 10am to 9pm each day and admission will be free. The Scarlet Cord is presented by StreetLightUSA, a Phoenix-based nonprofit specializing in providing care for child victims of sex trafficking and exploitation.

Get the rest of this article about The Scarlet Cord on Flourish Phoenix…

Award-Winning Child Trafficking Exhibit Comes to Phoenix

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The Scarlet Cord is a moving tribute to victims

January 23 through February 1, 2015

Old door with marker writing for The Scarlet Cord installation

An award-winning art exhibit aimed at raising awareness of child sex trafficking is being brought to the Valley by StreetLightUSA, a local non-profit and the largest residential center in the country focused on the care and healing of child victims. The Scarlet Cord will be featured in downtown Phoenix in the Roosevelt Row Art District.

“The Scarlet Cord really moves you as it delves into the issue,” said Lea Benson, President and CEO of StreetLightUSA. “While most people don’t like to think about under-aged girls being sexually exploited, this horrific injustice is happening in our own backyard. I am proud to share this with others in the Valley.”

Pamela Alderman is the artist who created The Scarlet Cord. The unique art exhibit is housed in a 40-foot storage container. Here visitors encounter 30 weathered doors and portraits bound by a twisted scarlet cord to depict the trauma bond that connects abused children to their traffickers. Alderman’s motivation for The Scarlet Cord exhibit was to inspire healing for sex trafficked children and those who have been negatively impacted by the sex industry around the world.