This domestic helper is an international photographer
Fresh from her international features in the New York Times and Vogue Italia, the buzzed-about Hong Kong domestic helper slash photographer Xyza Bacani revisits Manila to stage her first ever photography talk.
“I seldom talk. I only talk when I have something important to say,” self-proclaimed wallflower Xyza Cruz Bacani says. In her introversion, she has devised a powerful mouthpiece that speaks volumes: photography. Now, the buzzed-about Hong Kong domestic helper, who photographs poetic, random shots, revisits Manila to talk about her penchant for photography.
“It helps me forget. Nothing else is important when I shoot. It’s just me, my camera, and the street. The joy of shooting one good photo for a day is priceless,” says Xyza, the 27-year-old helper to an ageing Chinese-Australian.
Xyza is back home for a one-day photography talk, dubbed “The X is Home,” in partnership with Fujifilm. She says she wants to share her skills with aspiring shutterbugs. “Just keep the passion burning. No matter what you feel, what you do, find time to grab your camera and shoot. The more you shoot, the luckier you get,” says Xyza, who despite the loads of international features and hectic schedule as a DH, still finds time to click her cam.
For her, photography is a “silent, wordless means of communication,” which protects her from discrimination and racism in Hong Kong, which can be remembered as the nation that published a textbook where Pinoy overseas workers are stereotyped as maids. And recently, though it was already removed from airtime, Hong Kong put up a commercial where a helper named Maria was painted as dumb and very dark.
Xyza adds passionately, “Photography is a universal language—the language of freedom and equality. In photography, there’s no gender, there’s no age, there’s no social status, color, or race. We speak one language, and nothing of those stereotypes.”
She says if she were to give advice to her fellow overseas workers, it would be to love oneself first. “Sometimes, OFWs give so much they don’t leave anything for themselves. I say, develop a sense of self love because nobody can take that away from you.”
Hers though is a lucky story and as a sort of giving back, she plans to help the plight of her kababayans. Her boss, the same businesswoman who employed her mother, Georgia, for the last two decades has been helping her family. Xyza says her boss asked her to work for her when she was still in her hometown in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya. She flew to Hong Kong and followed her mom. “I grabbed the opportunity. It’s the smartest thing to do. I turned my life 180 degrees to help my family,” she says. It is also her boss whom she asked for a loan to sustain her luxurious hobby. Xyza bought a Nikon D90 from the borrowed money. And since then, hasn’t stopped from taking photographs.
“I love street photography because of the challenge of creating something that can never be repeated. I like finding the extra in the ordinary and immortalizing people in my photographs,” says Xyza, who’s into all kinds of art, but unfortunately, she hasn’t developed the same expertise in them as she had in photography.
“I tried studying and teaching myself painting, but I wasn’t blessed with Picasso’s talent. I tried music and playing the guitar, but they are not for me. I really wanted to do something that I could express myself clearly without the need to talk,” she elaborates. “And I also want to learn something new, and since photography is challenging, I got hooked.”
Her black and white candid shots of random places and faces have been featured in New York Times. Some of her photos are on Vogue Italia’s website. For three years now, she has also been a National Geographic magazine finalist in the Hong Kong best open documentary photo.
There is one requirement in street photography though. Besides the eyes for it, one has to be a wallflower or a ninja to take a powerful, candid photo. “Be a ninja. Blend with your surroundings and anticipate. Let the scene unfold and click. If they catch you, just smile and leave, but if they ask you to delete the photo, do so out of respect.” Xyza has deleted one too many random stolen shots.
Since her feature in international papers, Xyza says there are offers for her to go professional, but she wants to focus on what she has started, including her documentaries about the plight of unfortunate OFWs. “I still shoot for my soul, although there are offers here and there. I want to focus more on what I have started. I carefully pick what projects to do.”
It may seem as a no brainer. With international features and left and right offers, it is too easy to forget about her work as a domestic helper and start a career as a photographer, to stay here in Manila for good. But Xyza thinks otherwise. “When photography pays more than I earn now as a domestic helper, only then will I go pack my bags and start a new life. If not, it’s not the smartest thing to do. My priority is still my family,” says Xyza, who has invested in a house and lot and an apartment building in the Philippines.
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