“It’s our turn to tell our story.”  

Multi-awarded street and documentary photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani has been putting a spotlight on under-reported migrant workers stories, primarily on labour migration and human rights issues since 2014.    

“I am one of them. I am a child left behind by my mother and then I became a migrant domestic worker myself. Migration is a big part of my existence. I have a unique perspective on the issue because I lived it,” declared Xyza repeatedly during the launch of her first book We Are Like Air in 2018.   

“We have a voice. Please stop saying that you gave us a voice. We have a voice and you need to start listening,” Xyza has frequently strongly expressed.  

The second-generation domestic helper worked in Hong Kong for 10 years before she found her calling. She’s been given wide international coverage by the media. Not surprising. Hers is a different genre of success story. It is so potent that it proves nothing is impossible.

A tearful Xyza was only eight years old when her mother boarded a plane bound for Singapore to work as a domestic helper for the first time. Both had no idea how the whole thing would unfold. The only thing Xyza probably understood at that tender age was her mother’s determination to give her children a better future. 

The eldest of three children, Xyza was forced to grow up. She had to take charge of the household and her siblings back in her hometown Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya (north of the Philippines). Her farmer father worked miles from home.

Eleven years later, failing to complete her university undergraduate (nursing) degree due to financial difficulties, 19-year-old Xyza packed her bags to join her mother in Hong Kong to work as a nanny for the same affluent Chinese family that has employed her mother for 26 years.

She started taking casual photographs after purchasing her first digital single-lens reflex camera with a loan from her employer. She spent her days off roaming the streets of Hong Kong, capturing the raw emotions of migrant workers. She wanted to visually narrate their stories, catching the smallest detail to show how they feel – the pain, the struggles, the homesickness and the grief of being miles away from their families.

At first, Xyza took back these pictures to her mother, who rarely ventured out. But the more images she took, the stronger her feelings mounted against societal biases towards migrant workers. 

She was often asked: “What’s your day job? Do you do photography full time?” 

Her usual response: “No, I’m a helper.” This often changed the mood and tone of the conversation, from genial to incredulity, like she didn’t have a right to be a photographer. It was annoying and derogatory. But she is used to it, never embarrassed of who she is and where she came from.

She posted her images on social media, which eventually caught the eye of Filipino ace documentary photographer Rick Rocamora. He immediately recognised her potential. With Rick taking the lead, Xyza’s story and images landed in The New York Times in 2014. It was instrumental to paving the road to success. 

Xyza has held and participated in a dozen exhibitions (as of the last count) held in various countries worldwide, has won multiple awards in photography and was named Fujifilm ambassador. 

Her proudest moment yet came in 2018 with the release of her first book We Are Like Air with a flagship exhibition in Hong Kong before going on a road tour in Asia and America.

The 280-page B&W visual exposé chronicles the journey of her mother Georgia as well as spotlights piercing insights on migrant workers’ harsh realities. 

“Migrant workers are like air, invisible but necessary,” says Xyza.  “Although vital to the socio-economic success of society, they are often treated as low-class minorities. In many countries, labour migrants are unprotected by local labour laws and vulnerable to exploitation by employers. In extreme cases, they fall victim to trafficking. Having been promised high-paying jobs or other appealing opportunities by recruiters, employers or contractors, they end up in abusive or exploitative situations through force, fraud or coercion.”

A UN report on migration in 2019 estimated that the number of international migrants was close to 272 million globally, with nearly two-thirds being labour migrants. They comprise about 3.5% of the world’s population.

International organisations and award-giving bodies have recognised Xyza and her work. She is one of the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice 2015 Fellows; a Pulitzer Center and an Open Society Moving Walls 2017 grantee; one of the BBC’s 100 Women of the World 2015; 30 Under 30 Women Photographers 2016; Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016; and one of the Asia 21 Young Leaders (Class of 2018) to name a few.

Xyza, now 34, is currently preparing to fulfill a study grant in New York after being grounded in the Philippines due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. She won a scholarship at NYU Tisch Graduate School for Masters in Arts and Politics in 2019. 

“Not finishing my undergrad course is a big insecurity for me because there are doors that I cannot open due to lack of a diploma. I am very lucky that NYU Tisch accepted me,” says Xyza, who is also excited to reunite with her boyfriend Nicholas who she met in New York in 2016. 

The NYU Tisch School of the Arts is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University, and is among the most competitive film schools in the world for admissions. 

“I said in one interview that it is so easy to celebrate people like me. People who were able to break the ceiling and tell their story around the world. But we forget to celebrate the true women who are with us every day serving our families, serving other people’s children.” 

Multi-awarded Street and Documentary Photographer. Author. Speaker. Advocate. Soon-to-be film documentarian. The maid who made it. 

Yet, despite all her hard-earned achievements, Xyza remains true to her roots for they have given her voice in an unfair world where servants are often seen but not heard.

Debbie | ws

We Are Like Air is available on Amazon and Goodreads

www.xyzacruzbacani.com  

www.instagram.com/xyzacruzbacani/   

www.facebook.com/XyzaCruzBacani/

More on Xyza: Magnum Foundation: Classroom of Hope  |  CNN Report |  BBC Report |  New York Times  |  New York Times Humans Trafficking in New York  |  Pulitzer Center: Climate Change and Human Trafficking  | Pulitzer Center: Singapore Runaways  |  Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016

Images courtesy of Xyza Cruz Bacani.