World-renowned artist Timothy Schmalz is known for making statements with his moving sculptures depicting suffering and hardships. Community West Foundation brought Schmalz to Cleveland in 2021, when he began to install six Matthew 25 sculptures around the city, with the Old Stone Church acquiring “When I Was Hungry and Thirsty” in 2018 to install in Public Square.

Last week, Schmalz returned to Cleveland to install his 22.5-feet long, 3.5-ton bronze sculpture, “Let the Oppressed Go Free,” an impactful statement on the ongoing worldwide human trafficking issue.

Community West Foundation and the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking worked together to commission Schmalz to create the sculpture, which was brought into downtown last Tuesday, Sep. 26, and unloaded with the help of LAND studio.

“We closed the street and brought in a massive crane, and I was down there on Public Square when they delivered it from Texas,” recalls Community West Foundation president and CEO Marty Uhle. “We didn't get it installed until about 11 p.m.”

“Let The Oppressed Go Free” by artist Timothy SchmalzOn Wednesday, Sep. 27, “Let the Oppressed Go Free” was on full display at the north end of Public Square. A QR Code on the installation allows viewers to learn more about the piece and its message.

The sculpture brings attention to the societal issue by depicting human trafficking slaves being released from captivity. Fifty figures representing the different faces of human trafficking including sex exploitation, forced labor, debt bondage, and more are depicted—illustrating that men, women, and children can all become victims of human trafficking, particularly those from vulnerable communities.

“It’s almost impossible with one poster, or one figure, to actually represent the scope of the problem today,” Schmalz says of human trafficking. “I decided to do a piece that had around 50 different figures, showing all the unfortunate diverse ways of human slavery today. So, in a sense, it is creating awareness.”

Schmalz found inspiration from Isaiah 58:6 where scripture talks about “setting free the oppressed.”

The sculpture depicts Saint Josephine Bakhita opening up the underground and releasing modern-day slaves.

The work purposefully includes figures that span history to demonstrate that human trafficking has been a societal issue for generations. The artwork also showcases males and females, different races, and all ages. It includes symbols as well as coins to represent the connection between human trafficking and money.

“Let The Oppressed Go Free” by artist Timothy SchmalzIronically, “Let the Oppressed Go Free” was unveiled in Public Square on Thursday, Sep. 27—just as Ohio’s “Operation Buyer’s Remorse” human trafficking crackdown prompted 160 arrests in the state and many in Northeast Ohio.

An identical version of “Oppressed” is located outside of Venice, Italy, near the tomb of Saint Josephine Bakhita—the patron saint of human trafficking. After Cardinal Czerny was inspired by Schmalz’s sculpture depicting immigrants and refugees, “Angels Unawares,” and asked him to create another sculpture based on human trafficking.

As Schmalz researched the topic, the Pied Piper of Hamelin folklore came to his mind.

“The image that it was based around was actually from the very famous folktale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, how the piper wasn't paid for removing the rats, so he played another tune, and the ground opened up, and the children got sucked into the underground,” Schmalz explains.

“I thought that this would be in a very appropriate way of describing our modern-day plague, which is human trafficking, which is sucking children underground,” he continues. “So [this is] the image of having victims of human trafficking finally released from that underground by Saint Bakhita—the patron saint of human trafficking. She was a slave from a previous century and was a slave in Africa before being sold and brought to Italy.”

Schmalz says it took him a year to create the original sculpture and he has no intentions of creating another duplicate outside of the one currently in Cleveland—which will be in Public Square through March 2024.

“The layers of symbolism are very deep on this project,” Schmalz says. “It is to give, in a sense, an authentic portrait of human trafficking today, which is very difficult because there are so many different forms of human trafficking.”

Schmalz says the size, material, and subject the “Oppressed” send a message that is stronger than a movie or a poster—especially because it’s installed in Public Square.

“Bronze is a permanent material, and it takes up space—and I love the fact that it takes up that physical space and it makes visible what is, 99% of the time, invisible within our society,” he says. “And I think that's one of the clever things about how human trafficking works. It's not seen, and that's how it thrives.

“This sculpture brings sight to it; it brings that physicality to it,” Schmalz continues. “So that's the hope. In a sense, I'm a servant to the Vatican's orders of creating this. So it's a spectacular location for the sculpture. So I'm very happy.”

Once the sculpture was installed last week, Community West’s Uhle says it instantly drew attention.

“We got it placed, and the ironworkers packed everything up, and a couple who lives downtown with their dog walked right up, and I was about 20 feet away,” he recalls. “They scanned the QR code that we had on our big sign installed already. They were out on the website studying it and walking around it within about five minutes after it was installed.”

“Let The Oppressed Go Free” by artist Timothy SchmalzWhen it leaves Cleveland at the end of March, “Let the Oppressed Go Free” will be permanently installed at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, ScSchmalz’ Matthew 25 series continues to be popular in Cleveland, says Uhle, who recalls that Community West moved the “Homeless Jesus” sculpture around to different parts of the city every six weeks for about three years (now permanently at St. Malachi Parish in Ohio City).

In 2020, Community West inadvertently caused Schmalz’ sculpture to go viral. When it was placed at St. Barnabas Church in Bay Village.

“We placed it at a suburban, very wealthy suburb in a church parking lot right next to a public park that was very busy,” recalls Uhle. “Within 20 minutes, the police were called—and it wasn't somebody saying, ‘there's an unfortunate person that needs help.’ It was more of a difficult call, where somebody wanted that person out of the park, and they were offended.”

The church priest sent a Tweet to about 200 of his followers, Uhle says, “and by that evening, we had 240,000 retweets. We got phone calls that weekend, from Norway, India, Sweden, London, and San Francisco. We committed to buy the other statues in about six weeks.”

The incident was even spoofed on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update.

The six sculptures in the Matthew 25 collection are now part of a self-guided tour that Community West orchestrated.