This Venice Beach Installation Highlights the 14,000 Children Detained by the US Government

72andSunny's in-house creative residency 72U has crafted a two-story milk carton art installation in Venice Beach, CA to represent the more than 14,000 children who are currently detained by the US government. 

The number of detained children has risen from 2,400 in 2017 to 14,000 in 2018 and continues to rise. Many of these families and children are seeking refuge in the United States from poverty and violence. 

Utilising milk cartons, the installation nods to the missing children campaign that ran throughout the US from the early '80s to the late '90s. Each carton is a visual representation of an immigrant child being held in detention centres across the country. The text on the cartons represents what they are missing while being detained - their family, community and childhood. 

The exhibition launched on Wednesday November 28th and ran until Sunday December 2nd.

72U is a creative residency housed within 72andSunny. 72U’s mission is to create positive social change through radical creativity while exploring the intersection of art, technology, and culture. For this project, 72U invited nine creatives from around the world to collaborate and use their skills to address one of the most contentious issues of our time - immigration policy and the separation of families in the United States.  

To find out more, please visit https://www.14000andcounting.org and to sign the petition, click here.