British actor Emma Thompson, shown Oct. 20 in London, is in New York with an art exhibit that draws attention to the problem of trafficking in women and girls. (Joel Ryan/Associated Press)

British actor Emma Thompson has brought her interactive art exhibit Journey to New York City to focus attention on the international trafficking of women and girls.

The two-time Academy Award winner is chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation, an organization that helps victims of abuse. It was through the organization that Thompson first heard the story of Elena, a young Moldovan woman trafficked into Britain at the age of 19.

Elena's story inspired Journey, which is displayed inside seven shipping containers in New York's Washington Square.

Thompson told CBC's As It Happens current affairs show Tuesday that she became involved with the issue of trafficking after realizing it was happening close to home — perhaps as close as the massage parlour down the street from her London home.

Elena's story inspired her, she said.

"Her father had died, and she'd gone to work in market selling vegetables, and she was very unhappy in that life and had to leave school," Thompson said in an interview from New York.

A woman in the market befriended her, inviting her home and then offering her a tremendous opportunity overseas.

"One day, this woman said 'You know, I could get you a really nice job as a doctor's receptionist in London, and you'd be able to save money, send money home and go back to school.' She thought, 'This is fantastic'." Thompson said.

Elena handed over her passport and ended up in London six weeks later.

"She was handed over to a woman and told she owed them £50,000 ($87,715 Cdn) to pay for her journey over to the U.K. and that she was going to be earning that money by working as a prostitute," Thompson said.

"And when Elena said, 'No, I'm not going to be doing that. I'll work, but I'm not going to do that,' that's when the beating started. I think it's very important for people to understand that persons who are forced into this kind of work, into this kind of slavery, have been tortured, beaten, raped and threatened. And it's not the personal threats that really carry the weight; it's the threats toward the family."

Exhibit on until Sunday

A naïve young woman who had never seen a man naked, Elena was forced into prostitution for more than a year until a police raid on her brothel brought a new kind of humiliation.

"She and 19 other girls, none of whom could speak English, were picked up in my country, thrown into cells, because, of course, they had no papers — they were illegals," Thompson said. "And then they were put in a detention centre for three weeks, not helped in any way, and then they were deported."

'She was someone ashamed, someone utterly stigmatized by what she was doing, someone in her own mind not literally worth helping.'— Emma Thompson, British actor

Britain has not been kind to its trafficking victims, she said. No woman is offered asylum in Britain because she's been trafficked, she said.

"When [Elena] came to the foundation that I'm chair of, she wasn't in very good shape," Thompson said. "She'd gone home, but she wasn't herself any more. She was someone ashamed, someone utterly stigmatized by what she was doing, someone in her own mind not literally worth helping."

That is the story Thompson set out to tell in Journey. Her personal contribution, the final shipping container, entitled Resurrection, was created with British graphic designer Mike Dempsey, who holds the title Royal Designer for Industry, and artist Laura Carlin.

It uses Elena's voice and the words of other women to express the feeling of being without a voice that so many trafficked women feel.

"The way in which she told it was so extraordinarily dynamic and alive. She kept telling me these terrible stories and laughing. I thought, 'This woman is a survivor. She has such strength'," Thompson said.

The Helen Bamber Foundation does intensive psychological work with abuse victims, Thompson said. Elena is doing better with the help of the foundation. When the Journey exhibit showed in Trafalgar Square in London, she was there as a volunteer.

Thompson said she could see how moved Elena was to see people reacting to the exhibit. It was empowering to have her voice heard and to be believed, she said.

Journey includes exhibits by Turner Prize-winning sculptor Anish Kapoor, Oscar-winning film designer Michael Howells, playwright Ewan Spencer, photographer Simon Stephens and other artists, each depicting a different portion of the journey of human trafficking.

It will be in New York until Sunday.