The organisation MISSING was founded by Leena Kejriwal and started as a public art project after years of working with NGOs such as Apne Aap, Hamari Muskan and New Light. As an artist, Kejriwal fought against human trafficking by creating installations in galleries that brought up the realities of sex trafficking. She felt that the world needed a new approach to tackling human trafficking and introduced MISSING as a four-part Art As Activism movement, the first of which was the MISSING Stencil Campaign.
The Hunt for the Lost Durga is the first of a series of mural walks that MISSING is undertaking in its plan to engage the public with the issue of child trafficking. The murals were completed with the support of Shalimar Paints under their Colours for Change initiative. This mural walk is accompanied by an interactive Facebook messenger experience - the viewer can type 'Missing Mural Walk' into the search bar of the Facebook Messenger App then press 'Get Started' to be guided through the mural walk. The virtual guide asks the viewer which mural they can see and provides information about the mural and child trafficking, always ending with the question 'why wait for a girl to get trafficked to save her?' The virtual guide is still available and you can use it anywhere in the world.
This is the eight and final piece in the mural walk titled 'Survivor.' The Durga has managed to escape, but her story does not end there. The virtual guide tells how sometimes girls cannot return home to their families and others are forced back on the run where they are at risk of being trafficked once again. This highlights how important it is to support survivors and provide them with alternative options to help them escape the world of trafficking.
