This is an exceptional inside story on migration, seperation and love by magnum awarded photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani, born in Philippines in 1987.
Award-winning photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani tells the tale of her mother, a Filipino domestic helper who has spent half of her life in Hong Kong while also featuring the stories of other female migrant workers.
This compilation of Bacani’s characteristic black-and-white photographs offers a poignant account of their life away from home and reveals a lesser-known side of Hong Kong beyond the city’s skyscrapers and mega malls.
In this book, Bacani, who used to be a domestic worker herself, reclaims the story of the migrant worker that has been told countless times by others. This time around, she is telling their own story – not as victims but as champions who have overcome the many hardships life has tossed at them as they leave their families behind in their home country. The book portrays the experience of millions of mothers, daughters and families whose lives have been disrupted by migration. “We Are Like Air” because migrant workers are often treated like air, invisible but important.
Xyza Cruz Bacani (b.1987) is a Filipina Street and Documentary photographer based in Hong Kong who uses her work to raise awareness about under-reported stories. Having worked as a second-generation domestic worker in Hong Kong for almost a decade, she is particularly interested in the intersection of labour migration and human rights. She is a Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellow in 2015, has exhibited worldwide, and won awards in photography. She is also the recipient of a resolution (HR No.1969) that was passed by the Philippines House of Representatives in her honour. Xyza is one of Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders in 2018, the WMA Commission grantee in 2017, a Pulitzer Center grantee, and an Open Society Moving Walls grantee in 2017. She is one of the BBC’s 100 Women of the World 2015, 30 Under 30 Women Photographers 2016, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016, and a FUJIFILM Ambassador.
For further information please contact:
Christina Jensen christina@bluelotus-gallery.com
