The Adventist College student hoping to bring harmony to Hong Kong by using fashion, music and dance to combat city’s overt racism
- Model told she is ‘too dark’ for the industry attempts to change attitudes to ethnic minorities in the city
- Fashion and music event from Harmony HK is being staged to counter negative perceptions of refugees
Backstage at the Eaton Hotel in Jordan, models and performers are getting ready for Saturday’s Harmony Show – a colourful showcase of fashion, music and dance. These men and women may hail from Nepal, Indian, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand and other countries, but they share one thing in common: they all live in Hong Kong.
“Diversity is not appreciated here. As a model of colour, I’ve been told I’m ‘too dark’. But it’s not just my problem – other ethnic minorities in the fashion industry go through the same thing,” says the show’s founder, 20-year-old Harmony “Anne-Marie” Ilunga.
Hoping to encourage Hongkongers to be more accepting towards people of different races, in October 2018, Ilunga set up Harmony HK, a social enterprise that celebrates and spotlights ethnic minority and refugee talents in Hong Kong through the arts. She did so with the help of four others, including art director John David Dela Peri and cinematographer Anthony Tamayo Asis.
Ilunga fled her home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2011 with her mother and younger brother to join her father, who has been seeking asylum in Hong Kong since 2003. Like more than 21,500 asylum seekers who have successfully claimed non-refoulement protection in the city, Ilunga, who studies psychology at Adventist College and freelances as a fashion model, is safe from expulsion, return or extradition from Hong Kong.
But that has not put an end to her struggles. Ilunga and her family live off monthly government allowances that add up to around HK$3,000 (US$385) per person for rent, food and transport.
