This installation contains flashing lights and out-loud sound. There is a table in the centre and you can sit down and feel the vibrations, which match the soundtrack. Moi Tran is a Vietnamese artist based in London. She made this art in collaboration with musicians, a composer, choreographer, body percussionist, and the organisation The Voice of Domestic Workers. This organisation supports Britain’s migrant domestic workers by campaigning for their justice and rights. They provide legal and healthcare advice, alongside educational and community activities such as training, and drama and art classes.
Each year over 23,000 workers – mostly women – migrate to the UK. They come from countries including the Philippines, Kenya and Nigeria to work as domestic workers in private households. When domestic workers move, their employer sorts out their right to work with the Domestic Worker visa and renewals. Often, workers can feel trapped in exploitative or unsafe working conditions, unable to change their employer without losing their right to work.
Worldwide, a variety of physical labour occurs. This art asks you to consider how ‘care’ happens through manual labour. Domestic workers perform acts of care in the homes of their employers: cooking, cleaning and attending to children. They are expected to be warm and friendly, meeting the emotional needs of the household as well as their physical needs. The long hours they spend with their employer are at the expense of time with their own families.
The artist and creative collaborators met with members of The Voice of Domestic Workers over several months, on Sundays. They created and rehearsed a body-percussion choreography involving clapping, finger snapping, and stomping. The performance focuses on the workers’ hands, the tools of their labour. The art redirects the hands to love, joy and collective resistance. The workers are accompanied by musicians playing cello and trombone. Usually, women work in isolation, but this art allows for collective strength and expressing their creativity.
Performing is a way of releasing tension from the strain of their labour, or to process traumatic experiences. Clapping improves blood circulation and heart health, stimulating the nerves and blood vessels in our hands. Collective clapping has also been used as a way to resist and protest. This is the end of the exhibition and we hope you enjoyed it.