top of page

WHO IS TAKING CARE OF THE CAREGIVER?

2025

Performance Length: 10 min,

Red cotton strings (2 meters each, inscribed with reflective questions) attached to a dress and sound recording of approximately 300 caregiving tasks

300 x 300 x 160 cm

​​

“Who is Taking Care of the Caregiver?” is a performance piece that highlights the labor of caregiving, bringing both societal expectations and the emotional landscapes of the caregiver into focus. During the performance, a list of around 300 responsibilities commonly expected of mothers is read aloud, cataloging tasks that range from the mundane to the emotionally burdensome. Simultaneously, assistants unravel fabric strings inscribed with reflective questions—expressions of love, frustration, exhaustion, and resilience. This dual narrative juxtaposes the external demands of caregiving with its internal toll, making visible the often-invisible labor that sustains families and societies.

The performance draws from Silvia Federici’s critical analysis of caregiving labor within capitalist economies, where care is marginalized because it does not produce economic value. This systemic undervaluation perpetuates a cycle of invisibility, placing the burden of care disproportionately on women. By interweaving Federici’s critique with the deeply personal reflections of caregiving, the work bridges theoretical critique and lived experience, exposing how societal structures and emotional strain intersect in the daily lives of caregivers.

The unraveling of the fabric strings symbolizes both the exposure of hidden tensions and the unraveling of the caregiver’s own resilience under the weight of endless expectations. Questions such as How do I keep going? Why am I never enough? Who am I beyond this role? reveal the silent struggles and contradictions at the heart of caregiving. These questions are not only personal but also systemic, challenging viewers to consider why caregiving remains unseen, unsupported, and undervalued in our society.

In view of the etymological root of “curating” in curare—to take care—this work asks: How do we value care, and how is it possible that this work remains undervalued in our society? The performance asks audiences to confront the troubling answer: caregivers are often left to care for themselves, making self-care yet another task in an already overwhelming cycle.

© 2024 Ana Kotar Škarjak

bottom of page