I got the message below from a friend of mine and thought it was an interesting project. If you’ve got a house helper have them take part:
Dear All, I hope this message finds you well. I am contacting you on behalf of one of my projects: Project 52-Pixels An art Gallery for Domestic Workers in Kuwait. We are trying to have people who believe in the rights of their domestic workers to be an example to other locals in Kuwait, if you believe in their rights as a human being and give them a day off, we want to shed light on you so others could get influenced and follow. (Abuse is too common amongst domestic workers in Kuwait, a high percentage of them suffer from a form of abuse in one way or another, ranging from sexual abuse, physical, food deprivation, no pay- modern day slavery, suicide, and more. All gone with no reports and no punishment to the employer)
This is a short project and won’t take time from you and we would only need a few hours from your house helper to do the following:
1) On Saturday, September 12th we only need 4 hours from your house helpers time, (from 10am-2pm) for the domestic worker to attend the photography workshop given by professional photographers taking place at Masaha 13. They will learn how to professionally take photographs in an intense course and then each of them will be given their own cameras to take and keep.
2) Anytime after the workshop (whenever they are given their day off) they need to take the camera with them and take photos of whatever they desire, anything that speaks to them, the city, the streets, church, the friends they meet whatever it may be. (No photos of the house or the family employing the worker should be taken)
3) We will come and collect the film from you once they have taken their photos and produce them and blow them up into big photos.
4) Around October 20th (date not confirmed yet) we will host a public Art Gallery exhibiting all the domestic workers photography at Masaha 13, where you and your domestic worker are both invited to be congratulated and acknowledged in hopes of having any of the attendees and public who have forgotten that their domestic workers have a life outside of their uniform and Job are just like you and I.
We hope you believe in their rights and believe in change and could participate to be a leader who leads by example.
If you’re interested in having your house helper take part you can contact them on 97841212 or send an email to [email protected]
7 replies on “An Art Gallery for Domestic Workers in Kuwait”
Step number one: check.
You’ll understand this few months from now.
Wow, this is disgusting. What a pathetic attempt at addressing inequality. This isn’t empowering for the participants, this exploits them.
If people were really interested to “B the change” they would find ways to address the structural inequality that exploits these people. At least try to help some of those that are in really bad situations by funding aid/support groups.
This is really patronizing and offensive.
two things – one its quite a shame to see no local response to this on the comments boards. why? because these are the liberal kuwaitis for you. They’ll get all riles up about some perceived slight to Kuwait (instagram garbage? how dare you) but slink off in a corner when an opportunity to ACTUALLY be halfway human is concerned. Typical, expected and pathetic.
secondly although I applaud the effort, this is very much a first world approach to dealing with injustice. Give maids cameras. There are easier, better, more equalising ways of changing the culture in Kuwait.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you just said.
All India Bakchod should interview you haha.
I dont find it patronizing. Someone has come up with an idea to give domestic workers a change from their hard life and enable them to meet other people. If someone has a better idea, let him/ her come forward and implement it.
Thank you everyone for sharing your comments, we always welcome insightful information that can better create a more inclusive society.
For this project, one of our objective is to create a different perception by the society of domestic workers by giving them a platform to create something, through photography, that otherwise would not have the opportunity to do so.
A second objective is to promote a one day off a week for all domestic workers in Kuwait, which is by law, mandatory. This project also attempts to put this law into practice, and by its name “52px” gives the minimum number of days a domestic workers should have a year, one day a week.
We encourage everyone to share their opinions and through example, build a more inclusive society.
What an amazing post. How can you justify the liberation of people through the chronicling of their sad lives in the name of your art?