In this video Tri Suyati extemporaneously performs some of the Mandarin she has learned at the training agency.
The Readymaids videos were produced collaboratively with women inside a maid-training agency in Java, Indonesia before being placed with a family in Taiwan. All participation was voluntary. Many of the women in the videos had been waiting for placement with a family abroad for a year, often bored, thus making videos and photos became something “to do,” a way to play together. Videos are inspired by fantasies, desires or important memories. The women came up with the staging ideas of the works collaboratively and on their own. Women were paid for their participation. Many women in this industry become lesbians. Some videos explore the homoerotics of the training process.
2009 Supported by a grant from art matters, NYC
Jeannie Simms 