Housekeeping is a roving performance by Red Rey in collaboration with costume designer Kit Wu-Bylett that explores the invisible labour of diaspora Filipinx workers in service industries such as hospitality, domestic care, and sex work. The performance follows a ghost-like figure who slowly navigates the space of White Bay Power Station, draped in a layered and textured costume constructed of embellished white face towels. As the figure walks and repeatedly calls out the word “Housekeeping,” they engage directly with passerby and gathered audience members by removing the towels one by one and placing them into their hands. With the shedding of each offering, the figure is gradually revealed as an embodiment of Idiyanale, the pre-colonial Filipino deity of labour associated with horned water buffalos, carabao. The performance culminates in a staged ritual where audience members are invited to wash the body of Idiyanale in an act of care, service, and reverence.
Developed in collaboration with artist and costume designer Kit Wu-Bylett, the work also embeds creative access through ongoing consultation with disabled communities.
Image: Red Rey, 2025. Photography: Daniel Boud.
