In Memory of Athiraman Kannan

Posted on by

name: trenton / age: 30 / profession: publisher / location: london / weekday: wednesday / reference: On the 11th May 2011 news reached Jeddah that a man, later to named Athiraman Kannan, had the previous day, jumped to his death from the 147th floor of the world’s tallest building; the Burji Khalifa. From India, he came to Dubai to work. He cleaned the newly opened building. In an attempt to honour Athiraman Kannan, and his courageous call for attention to the lives of migrant workers, that afternoon I photographed what I had in previous weeks started to describe as a ‘pop out city’. These spaces were described to me by the domestic workers as an attempt at permanency, comfort and retreat in an always vulnerable and precarious life as a migrant worker. Unlike the families they worked for, whose life exists almost entirely behind these walls, their lives exist on the street, which is forging new notions ‘the public’ in city largely concerned with ‘privacy’. (Image taken the 11th May 2011 in Al Naeem, Jeddah.)

domestic worker visa

Posted on by

name: Marissa / age: 41 / profession: domestic worker & coordinator / location: london / weekday: saturday / reference: Domestic worker visa is the life of migrant domestic workers. without rights and protection the more abuse, exploitation and trafficking. Domestic worker visa is the prevention of trafficking, it is a medicine that cures that disease. Justice for domestic workers (j4dw) fights back to restore domestic worker visa with rights.

pet

Posted on by

name: Machiel / age: 20 / profession: Art student / location: amsterdam / weekday: wednesday / reference: Invisible pet, named gary. I feed him every day, in return he shits on my kitchen stove. have only seen him twice. one fine friend.

Beat your carpets here!

Posted on by

name: Riitta / age: 57 / profession: social historian & photographer / location: pohjois-haaga, helsinki / reference: Carpet racks are used for beating carpets in the yard. The hum of the vacuum cleaner has largely replaced the sounds of explosion from pounding the carpets. Nevertheless, carpets are still hoisted onto the carpet rack almost ritually for a thorough cleaning. This is often done in midwinter as dust mites die in the freezing cold. In the capital Helsinki, you can find carpet racks adjacent to apartment blocks, single-and multi-family homes and even the Cathedral. These simple and sturdy constructions have been installed for decades in front yards and backyards in the city center as well as the suburbs. Paradoxically enough, while carpet racks have become part of the outdoor furniture, as it were, they tend to pass unnoticed due to their ubiquity. They are also unintended monuments to domestic work. See more racks here: http://www.polarinertia.com/apr12/carpet01.htm

frames and bears

Posted on by

name: Realizza / age: 25 / profession: domestic worker & visual artist / location: london / weekday: saturday / reference: “bears are kept and memories are framed” as we leave our own children and our own country in exchange  of money and job and a greener pasture, we missed the so many moments we supposed to share with them and that is the high cost of migration.