'Severed finger' exhibition focuses on foreign workers' rights
A passerby looks at a poster for foreign workers' rights, torn deliberately to depict a hand with a severed finger. / Courtesy of Ideot.
By Kang Aa-young
Workplace human rights abuses of foreign workers are in the spotlight in time for May 1, Labor Day.
The Korea Support Center for Foreign Workers began a poster exhibition for foreign workers, starting Tuesday.
Some posters depict representations of the maimed hands of foreign workers hurt in industrial accidents. The posters will be displayed at the center until May 15.
The posters mainly call people's attention to the human rights of foreign workers, who face difficulties in communication and cultural and institutional differences, as well as infringements on human rights in the workplace. Marketing agency Ideot designed and made the posters.
“Foreign workers in menial jobs are in poor work environments with delayed paychecks and physical abuse from their bosses," a spokesperson from the center said.
"They are often exposed to industrial accidents or sometimes workplace illnesses that come later. The posters represent extreme cases in which foreign workers' human rights were violated.”
One poster shows a hand, torn strategically to suggest severing of a finger. Moving the torn part of the page shows the rest of the finger. It is based on a real event in which a foreign worker lost his finger in an industrial accident and eventually lost his job without compensation.
Ideot CEO Lee Seung-jae said he got his motivation from some cases where migrant factory workers were exposed to dangerous conditions due to their illegal immigration status.
"I saw one case where a migrant worker lost fingers and was kicked out of the country without compensation,” he said. “There are so many cases like this and we teamed up with the center to make this exhibit to let people know the reality.”
The caption says, “I have lost my finger and am told to get out.” /Courtesy of the marketing agency Ideot.