Brian Gothong Tan, Imelda Goes to Singapore, 2006

Our city is home away from home to more than 330,000 foreign domestic workers, which is equivalent to roughly 4% of Hong Kong’s population.

In January 2014, the traumatic images of Indonesian helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih covered in deep bruises and wounds sparked international outrage. According to the victim, her brutal injuries are the product of seven months of repetitive abuse that they suffered while “working”.  

Miljohn Ruperto, Isabel Rosario Cooper, 2014 

However, Erwiana’s case and other cases that get reported, are just the tip of the iceberg. Many who are subjects of abuse, underpayment or other exploitations remain quiet due to reasons such as the temporary suspension of financial support to their families after reporting their employers’ crimes. 

The Afterwork exhibition takes its point of departure from Para Site’s ongoing Hong Kong’s Migrant Domestic Workers project, a project aimed at engaging the domestic worker community through collaboratively organised public programmes and commissioned artist research.

Liliana Angulo Negro-utopico, 2001

Through photography, comics, sculptures among other means of art, the exhibition tells the migrant domestic workers’ tatler_stories. Bleak and cynical, these pieces by both local and international artists explore the issues of discriminations, stereotypes, legal status, housing, rest and privacy.

In addition to the exhibition, the debut of the Afterwork Readings, a major anthology of literature about and by migrant domestic workers, strives to promote the work of promising writers among the domestic workers community among other meaningful causes.

---

Afterwork
Date: March 19 to June 6
Venue: Para Site, 22/F Wing Wah Industrial Building, 667 King’s Road, Quarry Bay