“Afterwork,” a group exhibition opening at Para Site this month, aims to tell the stories of Hong Kong’s growing population of migrant domestic workers.Para Site has compiled the exhibition as part of its Hong Kong’s Migrant Domestic Workers Project, which has been running since late July 2015. Featuring the work of nearly 30 artists, it explores the lives of those made invisible by the ever-growing affluence of the city.Migrant domestic workers have become the largest minority group in Hong Kong over the last few decades (currently representing 4% of the population) and yet have relatively little voice in terms of status or political power. Although this is partly down to the specific character of Hong Kong as a state where issues of citizenship and legal status come with their own unique hurdles, with the subject of migrants in the international news, the timing seems apt for an exhibition like “Afterwork.”However apt, “Afterwork” still treads a fine line. It aims to speak for a group of people without condescending to them; it also attempts to pack a political punch without feeling like a lecture—or worse, an angrily written political pamphlet. The exhibition walks that line with multidisciplinary artworks that take sideways or even wholly abstract looks at migrant labor historically and currently. Film, painting, photography, and found images are just some of the ways artists explore the issue in their work.The exhibition runs alongside other projects designed to achieve the gallery’s stated goal: to use art “as a tool for reimagining the meaning of community in Hong Kong, between the different groups and classes that inhabit it.” These projects have included artist residency programs, reading groups, and photography workshops aimed at reaching domestic workers and other minority groups.“Afterwork” runs March 19-May 29 at Para Site. The art space’s Hong Kong’s Migrant Domestic Workers Project runs until July 21.
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