Anti-Slavery Australia, in partnership with Konica Minolta and the UTS Library, recently held a lunchtime seminar to launch the ‘Out of the Shadows: Portraiture of Domestic Workers in Nepal’ photographic exhibition. The seminar featured inspiring guest speakers from Nepal and Australia who discussed current labour exploitation and migrant worker exploitation issues in the regions.

The exhibition showcases a collection of striking black and white portraits alongside stories that highlight the challenges and aspirations of people who still experience modern forms of exploitation. The stories shed light on the many challenges faced by female domestic workers in Nepal, including child labour, forced marriages, limited access to education and poverty. The personal tone of the stories revealed that these women have dreams just like those of many other women around the world, such as buying a house or providing an education for their children.

Guests were welcomed to the seminar and launch of the exhibition by Professor Jennifer Burn, Director of Anti-Slavery Australia. Laura McManus from Konica Minolta then introduced the exhibition and spoke about collecting these stories during her exchange year alongside photographer Monica Frisell. Laura also described the relationships she built with these Nepalese domestic workers and how she brought to life their experiences of courage and resilience through this exhibition.

The launch of the exhibition also featured guest speaker Milan Dharel, Associate Professor at Kathmandu Law School. Milan highlighted the many challenges facing domestic workers in Nepal. He talked about his current policy advocacy work with Nepalese NGO, Swatantrata Abhiyan Nepal (SAN), and their struggle to get legal recognition and protection for domestic workers in Nepal. The next guest speaker, Writu Bhattan, executive secretary of SAN, further detailed the challenges faced by domestic workers in Nepal. The exclusion from social security, unreported and unrecorded statuses of domestic workers, and the lack of bargaining power for wages are just some of the issues they are working hard to change.

Dr Laurie Berg, senior lecturer in the law faculty of UTS, then provided an Australian perspective on the current issues facing migrant workers in her presentation. Dr Berg spoke about the factors that make migrant workers vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation, such as language barriers and limited knowledge of Australian law. She also mentioned the Australian Temporary Migrant Work Survey which is being conducted as part of a research project Dr Berg is currently undertaking with academics from UNSW and the University of Sydney. The data from this anonymous online survey will be used to identify ways to better protect the legal rights of international students, working holiday-makers and other temporary migrants at work. The survey is available online here: http://bit.ly/2czWCI8

The exhibition will be on display at the UTS Library until Wednesday 12 October 2016.