Phone cards

Phone cards are indexical signs for foreign or long distance calls, which would be a typical foreign domestic helper’s most common method of communication with people at home. This highlights how far removed they are from where they belong, representing and quantifying the time they spend away from home.

The way her hands are positioned can be taken as indicative of presenting what she holds in her hands. Open hands are also a mark of giving. The position of her hands and the items she is holding come together as a condensed code that tells us what she is giving to her employers — a sacrifice of literal distance and time.

For our target audience, the association of domestic helpers with prepaid cards and a simple phone is strong because it is a common local sight.

Phone cards and non-smartphones are also representations of the analog era, and they work as symbols of a simple, frugal lifestyle that is disparate from most Singaporeans today. Non-smartphones also stand for the many things domestic helpers have given up that we take for granted in our lives. They have left those things behind, many miles away, to earn a living here in Singapore.