At the centre of the Our Place is Here campaign are migrant domestic workers’ voices, experiences and demands.

At the start of the summer, daikon* - a zine by and for South East and East Asian people from marginalised genders in the diaspora - hosted a series of creative workshops with migrant domestic workers. These workshops created joyful spaces of community, solidarity and creativity, as well as provided an opportunity for skills development for the participants.

The workshops were a 2-part series, where participants engaged in group activities, shared their daily experiences working as a domestic worker and created and printed risograph prints in response to the themes of home, belonging and community.

The first workshop got participants to think about what makes them feel at home, while juxtaposing that with the work they do in other people’s homes, and how their status as migrant domestic workers impacts their sense of belonging in the UK. They brought photographs and objects that reminded them of home, and incorporated them in a collage using newspaper clippings, magazines and their own items. The second workshop, held at Rabbits Road Press, taught participants how to create risograph prints, reworking their collages and experimenting with layering and colours.

The artworks created represent domestic workers’ experiences of living and working in the UK, and the impact of the hostile environment. Some artworks depict the fight for better human rights and workers rights, as well as the importance of having to campaign to demand better rights. Other artworks highlight the sacrifice of leaving their children behind while having to look after their employer’s children on the promise of providing for their own family.

All of these stories are important, and we need to come together as a community to demand change for migrant domestic workers. Stamp our demands from domestic workers and help us show politicians that there is a strong community calling for the rights that they deserve.