Sed euismod augue magna, vel tristique ante luctus feugiat. Duis ac lorem id urna volutpat molestie imperdiet non justo. Nullam at metus pellentesque, tristique sem eu, vehicula diam. Sed aliquet elit velit, vel auctor nibh tempor vel. Morbi a molestie ligula. Donec sit amet vehicula felis, eget fermentum tortor. Phasellus maximus gravida feugiat.
Florence left Hong Kong in November 2013 to go backpacking in Australia. To earn money, she decided to work as an Au Pair in Brisbane and became a full time carer for three-year-old Daisy. Daisy’s mother is running a home-owned prostitution business and works extremely long hours. Daisy and Florence needs to be out of the house most of the time and have got the opportunity to stay at other host families during the day to do necessary things as cooking food and play indoors. Daisy’s father is not involved in her day-to-day life. Living with this small family and often taking Daisy for activities outside of the house, it didn’t take long for Florence and Dairy to become close. Florence’s boyfriend Kai also helps to create a safe and fun environment for Daisy. Daisy says she loves Florence and calls her mum.
Travelling to many different countries got me interested to learn more about their culture and how they live in that particular country. It awakened my interest in photography where I started to document how they lived.
One of the main inspirations that helped me getting this idea was Gabriele Galimbert series of children from different countries posing with the toys they have. It is fascinating to see how different toys children have in different countries, not to mention the number of toys they have.
I wanted to photograph a wide range of students from different countries, where all continents represented. I already knew six of the people from before and four others were friends of my friends. All the students were positive and accepted that I entered their private space (the bedroom) to photograph them. Some of the students were more uncomfortable than others, but soon as I asked them to tell about the stuff they had, they immediately become more comfortable and showed some sort of pride of representing their country.
Outcomes
Most of the people I asked said yes except one guy from Iran that said he would feel uncomfortable to get a strange girl photographing in his room.
Some of the photo appointments went quicker than others depending if they already knew what they had from their country. Most of the international students didn’t realise how much they had, where they told me before I came that they didn’t have anything. We ended up finding stuff that meant a lot to them were they didn’t even realise it was seen as something from their country.
It was also interesting to observe how some of them were dealing with a stranger visiting their home. They all were really welcoming and the students from Asians countries offered me something to drink. I think it went that well because they felt they could be a part of something they were proud to represent.
Annu Singh has a very colourful room and clothes. She was unsure what she had, but told me about the God ( Ganesha) she is praising for being wealthy and she were allowed to hold it because she didn’t had her period.
Jogs Quan Regeru. Jogs lived in a really minimalistic room and told me he was lucky to get a student visa. This passport is important to him.
Kyron Whitfield. Kyron didn’t have any pictures from USA, but is proud to show he is American and people use American products daily
Courtney Holland. Courtney told me it is a big difference between Australia and New Zealand and she is proud showing the beauty of New Zealand.
Louise Rosenberg. Louise shows a letter from her mum that means a lot to her. It says “Lots of kisses and hugs to my sweet daughter, Mum” She told me it is fantastic that she can get Swedish lollies and food in the Swedish goodies shop in Surfers Paradise, it makes her feel more home.
Ahmed El Abass.i Ahmed showing his driver licence from Egypt. He told me it is completely different to drive in Australia than Egypt.
Nhi Dinh. Nhi had no idea what she had from Vietnam except for the traditional suit that didn’t fit her anymore. We found a picture of her mum that means a lot to her.
Stefan Ojanen. Stefan was proud of posing with his army hat were he was in 2008 to 2009. He holds a liqueur called Jallu which he brought from Finland.
Yeung Wing Suet. Yeung shows a picture of her best friends from Hong Kong that she misses a lot. She told me she is not from China. She is from Hong Kong.
Sherry Zhang. Sherry was unlucky and broke her leg few days before the shoot. She is holding chop sticks with fishes that brings luck.
This is a selection of my best photos from Ecuador. After living there for more than 3 years, I got to experience the Ecuadorian culture in hard times and good times.
