Artist's photos put focus on domestic abuse in Hong Kong
Moved by the plight of domestic helpers in the city, Australian Katie Vajda decided to do her bit to challenge a few things that have become 'acceptable'
Pulling up a chair at a Tai Hang coffee shop, Australian-born artist Katie Vajda is quick to launch into a conversation about the importance of challenging norms. "For many people who move to Hong Kong, there's a norm and people just follow it, but at some point you have to stop and ask yourself a few questions, to challenge a few things that have become 'acceptable'," says 39-year-old Vajda, who has called Hong Kong home for almost seven years.
And that's just what she did. Moved by the plight of domestic helpers in the city, Vajda decided to do her bit to change the conversation, using photography as her medium. "I was moved by what the media was reporting, but what story got me thinking most about the issue of domestic abuse was this one," she says, reaching deep into her bag and pulling out a tattered Post Magazine, dated March 2, 2014.
"This feature [by SCMP contributor Simon Parry] was the most powerful I'd read, referencing work by Ladegaard [Professor Hans Ladegaard, head of English at Baptist University]. Ladegaard's four years of research really exposed the extent of domestic abuse in the city and peeled back the layers of how and why abuse takes place in a domestic setting."
"I had always wondered why women and girls accepted this treatment, but now, as a mother of two young girls, I know it's because women will do everything to protect and support their children, and their sick parents … There is a bundle of reasons why helpers are rendered vulnerable and powerless. They are held over a barrel."
She flicks through the magazine's pages, most of the story's paragraphs jumping off the page where Vajda had attacked them with a bright pink highlighter pen.
Determined to make a difference, Vajda, who has a background in media and marketing, signed up for a bachelor's in fine arts (photography) at Hong Kong Art School. For one of her projects, Can you see me yet?, Vajda shows two images of a former domestic helper, Efa Sultiane. In the first, Sultiane is wearing a dress with a print like the iconic Burberry fashion brand, a sheet of the same print hanging in the background, a feather duster standing in a vase next to her. In the second shot she is camouflaged, the sheet wrapped around her body.