SUNDAY
COUTURE
SUSTAINABLE
2018-2019
The project featured costumes created from everyday upcycled materials and designed by Ms Elpie A. Malicsi from the Domestic Worker Empowerment Project at the University of Hong Kong. As a Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong, Elpie’s costumes speak to the need for a more inclusive dialogue about sustainability, one that addresses the links between sustainability and labour rights, decent work and domestic workers’ creative contributions to Hong Kong culture.
This project was supported by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund granted by the University Grants Committee.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Video compiled by the members of Domestic Worker Empowerment Project at HKU
EXHIBITIONS
CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINES
HONG KONG
4-14 MARCH 2018
MAIN LIBRARY,
THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
18 MARCH - 1 APRIL 2018
EXHIBITION LAUNCH AT THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE PHILIPPINES HONG KONG
MOBILE CATWALK
A Mobile Catwalk was held on the 25 February 2018 with six catwalk models - two domestic workers, two students and two domestic workers with beauty pageant experience. Brayan Decepeda aka Zushifukato, a domestic worker with extensive beauty pageant experience coordinated styling and the mobile catwalk route. The models were dressed and styled on the sidewalks below the Jardine’s House footbridge, before promenading down Chater Road to the Star Ferry via the road by Edinburgh Place. The team took the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui then walked along the harbour outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. the team travelled to Causeway Bay (via the MTR) where the models promenaded down Pottinger Street, ending up at Times Square. The mobile catwalk was documented by domestic workers from Lensational. Six undergraduate students provided personal assistance for models.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
HKU SUSTAINABILITY
OFFICE
Hundreds of used disposable plastic straws were collected in collaboration with the HKU Sustainability Office, in support of the Ditch Disposable campaign to phase out plastic straws on campus. Straws collected from campus canteens and collection points were repurposed by Elpie into a bodice for one of her costumes. The HKU Sustainability Ofice also produced a short video on sustainability and sustainable labour.
PUBLICATIONS
EXPERIMENTS IN ENCHANTMENT
ABSTRACT
We used and explored Bennett's (2001) conceptualization of enchantment to discuss the implications of creative activities involving marginalized communities. We analysed the creative transformation of space, materials and labour in catalyzing affective, intellectual and ethical disruptions for public audiences and the new potentialities that may contribute to the respect and recognition of domestic workers’ creative contributions in Hong Kong. In exploring the creative transformation of migrant labour into creative communities and waste into fashion, we are considering the transformation of that which is foundational to but often under-recognized in the operation of the city. In doing so, we examine the potential and risks of enchantment in contributing to social change. The ethics of enchantment, in contrast to the ethics in enchantment, is perhaps most salient when the locus for enchantment is situated within a context of inequality. We argue that any analysis of the practice of enchantment must be firmly embedded in an analysis of power and social difference, particularly when understanding the effect of enchantment in social change efforts.
Ham, J. & Sunuwar, M. (2020). Experiments in enchantment: Domestic workers, upcycling and social change. Emotion, Space and Society, 37, 100715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100715
MEDIA
HK01
22 MARCH 2018
THE SUN HONGKONG
21 MARCH 2018
ART ASIA PACIFIC
14 MARCH 2018
NOLISOLI
14 MARCH 2018
PNA NEWSROOM
13 MARCH 2018
INQUIRER LIFESTYLE
13 MARCH 2018
GMA NETWORK
12 MARCH 2018
ASIA TIMES
12 MARCH 2018
PTV NEWS
11 MARCH 2018
POST MAGAZINE SCMP
10 MARCH 2018
PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
09 MARCH 2018
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THANK YOU FROM THE PROJECT TEAM: Ms Elpie Malicsi, Dr. Julie Ham, Merina Sunuwar, Dr. Ju-chen Chen, Dr. Michael Manio, Jessie Yang, and Dr. Tommy Tse
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To our HKU partners and contributors: Digital Literacy Laboratory; Domestic Workers Empowerment Project (DWEP); Hong Kong Documentary Initiative; Sustainability Office; The University of Hong Kong Libraries; The Wandering Voice
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To our community partners and contributors: Enrich; Green Earth; Lensational; Open Door; Para Site; Philippine Consulate General; Voices of Women Media; Visualizing the Voices of Migrant Women Workers (VVMWW) alumni-Joan Pabona, Lucy Gumiran, Daisy A. Valenzuela, Oliva L. Quizana, Tetchie Blanco, Liezl Muega, Maritess Abana, Susan R. Loria & Gegerma Montero
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To our student volunteers: Danise Au; Candice Chu; Diana Zhou; Victor Lee
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To our mobile catwalk queens, artists, photographers and student helpers: Angelica Louise Bedana, Bryan Decepeda, Cathy Pastrana, Clara Yuet Ming Au, Isabelle Kwan Ching, Joan Pabona, Justine, Karla, Kervy, Kris, Lanie Rosario, Nicholas Li, Odelia Hui Ching Cheung, Raffy, Shem Redie, Sze Yan Leung and the Lensational photographers