Trafalgar Square, human trafficking - and a message from Emma Thompson

Fame's an odd ball to carry, but some folk do so with relentless care and awareness of the good that can be wielded through it.

Human trafficking, particularly of girls and young women for the slave trade, sneaks under the wire of public consciousness. The women and girls are in an abject situation, made invisible, and the trade is a secret one conducted in dark rooms. Emma Thompson's been working for a year to bring it out into the open, and make us all conscious of what is going on.

It's very easy NOT to bring off an art installation in the middle of Trafalgar Square, then send it touring around the world. Emma has really stuck to the plan, bringing artists in to make it real. I've been touched by seeing the gathering designs of the containers in which the various tableaux will take place, the designs for their exterior, the unbearably poignant statements made by young girls as they are enticed away from their villages to the 'bright lights'.

I'll be going along on the evening of Saturday 29th September, to take part in a candlelit vigil. See you there perhaps ... or you might prefer to catch a viewing through its London week (I know it's going on to Glasgow, but don't know the other details yet).

Emma's asked me to pass on the following invitation, so here it is:

"Dear all - forgive the impersonal nature of this
message, but it is nonetheless a very personal plea.
For a year now I have been curating or developing or
whatever the word is, an art installation about human
trafficking (specifically sex slavery).
It will be in Trafalgar Square from September 23rd -
30th before leaving for a journey that will take it
around the UK and then into Europe and the USA.
Please - and this is the most important please of my
life - come and visit it. It's open from 12pm till
8pm. I hope I'll see you there.
One of the artists involved is Anish Kapoor.
So it's not a chore.
Oh god that rhymes.
How ghastly.

Thank you and love, Emma"