By Stu Bobcat - St. Thomas University
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Artist Susan S. Buzzi sheds light on the dark world of human trafficking in the United States in her exhibit titled "Responsibility & Vigilance," opening at St. Thomas University Wednesday, Feb. 22.
MIAMI GARDENS | Artist Susan S. Buzzi sheds light on the dark world of human trafficking in the United States in her exhibit titled “Responsibility & Vigilance,” opening at St. Thomas University Wednesday, Feb. 22. Buzzi hopes the exhibit helps generate awareness about a topic that is still rarely known across our nation. Reports of domestic human trafficking continued to increase in 2016, jumping 35 percent over 2015, according to recent data released by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and the Polaris Project.
“Responsibility & Vigilance” was first created to complement the Human Trafficking Academy at STU’s School of Law with a series of posters comprised of original imagery. During the past several years, the collection has evolved to include approximately 40 works accompanied by a film by the same title.
Buzzi, a former law enforcement officer, is now an educator, coach practitioner and victim advocate. Her counseling work is directed specifically towards at-risk youth and victims of domestic violence, abuse and human trafficking through healing art techniques and expressive therapies. She’s also involved with outpatient care for both victims and offenders, and numerous violence prevention and re-entry initiatives in urban metropolitan localities throughout South Florida.
“For me, the combination of law, faith, art therapy and wellness flow together, and is without a doubt, perhaps one of the most important responsibilities I have as an advocate,” she said. “And I am especially grateful for the opportunity the exhibition gives me to engage our communities in this critical conversation.”
Buzzi’s award-winning work has been exhibited at a national and international forums and is included in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the United States. In addition to human trafficking, her documentary work has addressed a number of other sensitive issues such as homelessness; at-risk youth and violence prevention; and extensive studies focusing on women’s wellness and their cancer journey.
The exhibit opens, Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m., in the Archbishop John C. Favalora Archive & Museum (located in the Main Library).
