There is a fine line between creating critical discussion and simply perpetuating a stereotype that is unhealthy and demeaning.

Photographic artist Alice Mann shot this series of domestic workers in their work places (entitled “Domestic Bliss”) with the idea of opening a space for critical discussion. While this is a great idea in theory, the actual product of her work is not even close to critically unpacking the complexity of the concept of a domestic worker in post-apartheid South Africa.

The City Press are close to scathing in their report on this feature:

[W]e are presented with nondescript black faces, with no sense of the value or identity of the women.

We are not offered their surnames. Their African first names are not even used. They’re just more Sophies and Sheilas.

We see the domestic workers sitting in the kitchen or lying on an impeccably made bed, staring apparently contentedly into the camera. There is no irony, no context, no critique.

The reality is that they are right, the image do not critically represent the  juxtaposition of the vastly different realities these women face daily. Have a look through a few of the pictures in the gallery below, do they encourage you to think critically about the complexity of having a domestic worker?

It is one thing having parliamentarians purposely dressed in what has come to be the uniform of the domestic worker, but simply taking portraits of domestic workers? Not so critical…?

See pics below and scan this QR code to join a WeChat group chat discussion about what YOU think!

Find the full gallery on Alice Mann’s page and more on this story at The City Press.