By Nancy Nuñez and Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch

In a world saturated with information, statistics often fail to move us. The scale of suffering—50 million people in modern slavery, countless children forced into hazardous labor—can feel abstract, even paralyzing. The number is so big, it almost doesn’t feel real.

That’s something called psychic numbing—when large numbers make us feel less instead of more. It’s a strange trick our minds play, and it can stop us from caring or taking action.

Photographer Lisa Kristine confronts this emotional barrier through portraiture that dignifies the unseen. Instead of showing crowds or statistics, she focuses on one person at a time. Her portraits of people in forced labor—like children carrying heavy slate in the Himalayas or miners covered in red dust in Ghana—help us connect on a human level. You see their faces. You feel their stories. And suddenly, the issue isn’t far away anymore.

Brothers Carrying Stone, Nepal - Lisa Kristine

Kristine’s work exemplifies the power of visual storytelling to make absence visible and suffering personal. Rather than overwhelm with numbers, she invites us to feel compassion for one individual—and in doing so, opens the door to empathy for millions.

As she puts it, her goal is to “ignite a fire that shines a light on slavery.”

One key idea? We’re more likely to care when we emotionally connect with a single person—not a statistic. Kristine’s photography reflects this truth, urging us to look past the numbers and see what global systems often conceal: the human cost behind the products we consume and the industries we benefit from.

In today’s world—where fast fashion, extractive industries, and forced labor collide—her images aren’t just documentation. They’re a call to conscience.

Just like Lisa’s photos were taken in different parts of the world, there are organizations working across continents to address the harsh realities behind fast fashion, extractive industries, and forced labor.

If you want to take action, consider supporting one of these organizations:

Anti-Slavery International – UK-based, working globally to end modern slavery. antislavery.org

Human Rights Watch – Investigates labor abuses in fashion and mining. hrw.org

International Justice Mission (IJM) – Supports survivors of forced labor and trafficking in Africa and beyond. ijm.org

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) – Defends migrant workers in Mexico and the U.S. cdmigrante.org

Even small donations or a share on social media can help amplify their impact.

Lisa Kristine’s Official Website

[Images from lisakristine.com]

Seeing What We Usually Don’t: Lisa Kristine and the Power of One Photo