„Chat(t)er Gardens”: A View at the Invisibles. Philippine Domestic Workers in Hong Kong and other Places

In „Women on Air“ at Orange 94.0 – co-organized by the magazine „Frauensolidaritaet“ (women’s solidarity) – the Philippine activist and artist Corazon Amaya-Cañete, the Austrian photo/video-artist Moira Zoitl and the Austrian cultural-anthropologist Sonja Rappold will discuss topics of domestic workers at the point of intersection of art and socio-political critics/activism.
Corazon Amaya-Cañete photo-works are shown at the „Fotogalerie Wien“ within the project of Moira Zoitl „Chat(t)er Gardens. Stories by and about Filipina Workers“. Her project wants to be a platform for statements of women artists. The photographer Corazon Amaya-Cañete – who lives and works in Hong Kong – reflects in her expressive and colourful pictures structures of socio-political activism and documents forms of resistance against restrictive migration laws by the government in Hong Kong. More than 218.000 foreign domestic workers live in Hong Kong, 98% of them women and 68% from the Philippines. Reflecting the situation on domestic workers in Austria migrant women are completely invisible and have hardly access to labour-rights: working conditions depend mostly on the „goodwill“ of the employers. Domestic Workers develop various creative strategies for their empowerment and networking. Corazon Amaya-Cañete shows impressionate how visible and powerful women can be when they come together.

Corazon Amaya-Canete, Documentary Photographer: http://www.kisapmata.com

EVENT: Exhibition at the Fotogalerie Wien: REALITAETEN – Machtfaktor Wirtschaft
4.04. – 4.05.2005, open: 10:00 – 14:00, Sa, 14:00 – 19:00, Mo bis Fr

Further Information:
– Exchange rate: approx. 70 Philippine Pesos to 1 Euro
– UNIFIL United Filipinos in Hong Kong http://www.unifil.org.hk
– Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers http://www.migrants.net
– Constable, Nicole: „Maid to order in Hong Kong.” Cornell University Press 1997
– Anderson, Bridget: „Doing the Dirty Work? The Global Polititcs of Domestic Labour.” London and New York: Zed Books 2000.

Information about the EU-project on domestic workers: http://www.servus.at/maiz
– „Homes, Caretaking, Frontiers: Immigrant Women Rights and Conciliation…“ comparison between Austria, Germany, Spain and Great Britain.
– „Migrantinnen in der Hausarbeit“ Austrian research on domestic workers from the migrant organisation MAIZ in Linz.

Articles in the „Frauensolidaritaet“:
– „Ich putze Dreck, aber ich bin nicht Dreck!“ von Sonja Rappold in: Frauensolidaritaet Nr. 1/2004, S. 10/11.
– „Die dritte Person im Bunde. Neokoloniale Koordinaten in westeuropaeischen Privathaushalten.“ von Sonja Rappold in: Frauensolidaritaet Nr. 3/2004, S. 16/17.
– „Null Toleranz. Ein Bericht des Europarats zu Sklaverei im Haushalt.“ Von Eva Kalny in: Frauensolidaritaet Nr. 3/2004, S. 12/13.
http://www.frauensolidaritaet.org