Lilia Li-Mi-Yan

Masters/Servants

Staff such as cleaners, managers, cooks and gardeners have worked in wealthy homes from time immemorial. These professions have forged their niche in the global service sphere, but in Russia they are low status jobs.

Job-seekers see this step as something temporary, maybe even a bit shameful. Employers want to find someone who will do a good job. They evaluate the professional skills of the job-seeker, understanding and making understood that staff’s personal problems are not their concern.

And so a new, completely unknown person appears in the family. This person should become irreplaceable and, at the same time, remain unnoticed. A person who will know more about everyday domestic life than anyone else, and yet remain silent. That person has their own life, and hiding this is also an important element of their professionalism, enabling them to keep their distance.

Where is the border, where the display of some people’s interests and the openness of others produces benefits, while maintaining a certain barrier? The barrier of security and independence. Knowledge creates attachment, and this is a completely different story.

Lilia Li-Mi-Yan