Kidnapped!

Since 2009, Boko Haram, Islamic, jihadist, terrorists have killed more than 10,000 people in Nigeria, Africa. Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden.”

In April of 2014, Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 school girls from a secondary school in Chibok. These girls were so dedicated to furthering their educations that they were returning to school in a dangerous area in order to take their final exams. It was on this very day the terrorists cynically kidnapped them.

Following the mass abduction, Boko Haram terrorists released a video in which they threatened to sell the girls into sex slavery and as child brides. It also showed the girls being forced to convert from Christianity to Islam.

Many months later, 60 girls have escaped and the rest are still missing.
I have created this “cage” containing 216 paper dolls - the number of girls missing at the time of publication - as a reminder of these missing girls, as a metaphor for their lost childhoods, and as a protest of all acts of terror and exploitation that are continually committed all over the world in the name of religion.

It is inexcusable that in a world of satellite imagery and jet planes, we could not rescue these young women. Half of the proceeds of these artist books will be donated to: “Girl Rising”- an organization devoted to advancing girls’ education in India, Nigeria, and the Congo.