Titled: Above The Turmoil
Victims of the Cambodian sex trafficking trade

The Cambodian Flowers series visually represents the emotional journey child victims of the Cambodian sex trafficking trade go through in their life. The chaos of dark colors surrounding these girls portrays the deep feelings of rejection and abandonment as girls are sold by their own family members including brothers, cousins, and even mothers to pedophiles from all over the world. The artist, Shane Grammer, used pink to represent purity and innocence in the first painting of the series, but when Grammer learned that one of the most famous brothels had a pink room dedicated specifically for virgin girls, the color took on another meaning. The pink not only stands for innocence, it also represents the exploitation of that innocence. The flowers surrounding each girl is a symbol of that girl’s purity, that no matter how abused and exploited, she is still a beautiful Cambodian flower. The bright yellows, oranges and whites are used to capture the hope each girl has of restoration. Even though the Cambodian Flower girl feels ruined and beyond redemption, the truth is they are still pure like the Cambodian Flowers that surround them, and that their purity will be transformed in a way that allows them to rise above the horror they have experienced.

Shane Grammer is using art to bring awareness and financialsupport to Agape International Missions based in Svay Pak Cambodia. AIM is committedto stopping child sex trafficking in Cambodia. AIM is highly active in thevillage of Svay Pak, Cambodia’s most notorious location for child sextrafficking and a mecca for foreign pedophiles. They are attacking the problemat its heart through: providing protection for atrisk children, developing sustainable industry that removes thefinancial incentives for families to sell their children, providing freeeducation for adults and children alike, providing a free medical clinicwhich keeps families from selling their children to pay for emergency medicalneeds, and through engaging the local gangs, pimps, drug dealers andbrothel owners, building a relationship with them and showing them how to value human life.

More information about AIM visit, www.agapewebsite.org