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Exquisite Human Suffering (2024)

While looking at photos of jewels for in the Smithsonian Museum's Open Access Collection, I came across a beautiful and... [more] While looking at photos of jewels for in the Smithsonian Museum's Open Access Collection, I came across a beautiful and strikingly grotesque collection of goldsmithing designs. I was honestly aghast at some of the cherubic imagery, and my thoughts turned to the people in those careless, rudimentary supply chains, and how their story echoes throughout time into the present.

This piece, stolen wholesale from a 16th-century book of designs for goldsmiths and jewelers, is dedicated to the countless lives lost to the global slave trade throughout history, as well as to the millions of people who are currently enslaved worldwide.

The dark, depraved souls who benefit directly from forced and child labor are closer than you think. Put on a brave face and fight back.

60% of proceeds from the sale of this piece are set aside for the Abolish Slavery National Network, a group of slavery abolitionists fighting for full, constitutional, protection from slavery at the state and federal level.

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