Emma Thompson involved in shocking NYC show

Better known for her roles as upscale English ladies and magical nannies, Emma Thompson is now exploring the life of a sexual slave.

Emma, 50 is one of the people behind, “Journey,” a collaborative art exhibition that opens today near New York’s Washington Square Park. Presented in seven giant shipping containers the show is a disturbing portrayal of one woman’s unwilling descent into the sex industry.

“Each container is created by a different artist and captures one aspect of the road she’s taken, both internal and external,” Thompson told the Daily News at a preview on Monday.

Emma was invited to be involved with the show after meeting a woman in her mid-20′s who suffered years of sexual abuse, “It’s a difficult crime to discuss,” Emma told the reporters. “Even though it’s happening on their own doorstep, people automatically want to turn away.”

That’s not so easy at this show — the reality is right in your face. The goal is to confront your perceptions, which is one reason why the first exhibit can only be seen through keyholes at waist level. The next container portrays how a victim’s identity can be wholly wiped out;

“Many victims say they invent alter egos to survive,” Emma explained. And this feature finds a challenging way to put you in that woman’s place. Another container is all about the sounds of this trade, while in another a dirty, broken down empty bed bucks like an electronic bronco to portray the act at the core of this crime.

Created by artists as diverse as Anish Kapoor and Antony Micallef, costume designer Sandy Powell and photographer James Ostrer, ‘Journey’s stark presentation has already stunned over 20,000 people in Vienna and London, and will move on to Madrid when it closes next week.

The show is based at Washington Place, and is open mostly from noon to 7pm. If you have the stomach, it sounds well worth the trip…