From let: Yisa Akinbolaji, Gerald Folkerts, Cornelius Buller and Ray Dirks with samples of art on display.


THE celebration of a life-long commitment planted the seed for an art exhibition highlighting human relationships gone very wrong.
"I invited my friends there and that was a plan of God to go beyond that," explains Nigerian-born painter and mosaic artist Yisa Akinbolaji of how his wedding guests hatched a faith-based, multimedia project on the topic of human trafficking under the banner of Invisible Dignity.

The 50 piece exhibit, Unveiling the Mystery, is the culmination of two years of research and reflection on trafficking, sexual exploitation and other forms of indignity for Invisible Dignity project co-ordinator Cornelius Buller, one of Akinbolaji's wedding guests.

The two-venue exhibit featuring works by Akinbolaji, now of Manitoba, fellow Winnipeggers Ray Dirks and Gerald Folkerts, Jo Cooper of Frontenac, Que. and Steve Prince of Hampton, Va., opens Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, and on Monday, Sept. 24 at Booth College Library.

The idea of human trafficking alternately engaged and horrified Buller, 52, who began researching the topic when employed an ethicist for the Salvation Army.

"If this is going on in the world and we don't do something about it, that really says something about what we are about," says Buller, now executive director of Urban Youth Adventures, a joint initiative of Camp Arnes and World Vision based in the city's North End.
"Our own dignity is up in the air, it's questionable, until we address the question (of human trafficking)."

Despite his own extensive research, Buller says statistics on human trafficking in Canada are difficult to nail down. Worldwide, an estimated 27 million people are enslaved for prostitution or forced labour, and in some cases, parents give away or sell their children.

Instead of focusing only on the ugly and depressing side of the issue, the art exhibit features work that illuminates the humanity in every person and celebrates relationships, says Folkerts.

"If we think of the dignity that is inherent to every person, if it's invisible, it's not because its not there but because we're blind to it," explains the painter who will be contributing his series of paintings of faces and feet to the exhibit."

"What we're trying to suggest and do in our art is to bring it to the fore, the inherent dignity that is in us."

That approach intrigued singer/songwriter Steve Bell, one of the performers at a benefit concert connected to the exhibit. After years of touring, he's witnessed too much sadness in the world to pass up on participating in a project that celebrates and promotes the dignity of all people.

"I like the focus on celebration rather than warning," explains Bell. "And I like the fact that it is art based. Art has a way of putting us a little off balance so we can see something in a new way. It's a very powerful medium for opening up new paths to compassionate living."

Hosting the exhibit and some of the educational events of Invisible Dignity was a good fit for the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, explains curator Ray Dirks. "We try fairly aggressively to be involved with pieces that are more than nice piece of art," he explains.

"I've worked pretty much all my adult life around this theme. We need to get to know each other and see each other in the eyes of God."

Buller collected a diverse and wide group of participants and supporters from across denominational lines for the $30,000 exhibit and related events. That widespread involvement of faith groups and organizations means more points of connection within Winnipeg to each other and the larger issue of human trafficking, he says.

"For whatever reason, it's very easy to not be engaged with our neighbours, to be a community," says Buller. "In a city with so much diversity, we have to be very conscious of building community, of knocking down barriers."