Aaron Padín
In 2010, Burma held its first elections in 20 years. These elections would have been meaningless if more than 2,100 political prisoners remained locked up in Burma’s squalid prisons. Human Rights Watch & JWT NY created an interactive installation at Grand Central Station, New York. The installation featured a mock prison with 200 miniature cells and 2,000 pens in lieu of cell bars.
Visitors could remove the pens to symbolically free the prisoners, and then use the pens to sign an onsite petition calling for their release. The petition book was then sent to the United Nations’ Secretary General and leaders of countries that maintain close ties with Burma. Due to its success, the installation toured Prague and Brussels.
More importantly more than 150 political prisoners have since been released.