In order to make space for critical and forward-thinking contemplation on care, the exhibition caring structures connects the works of various artists, scholars, and activists. They research in archives about self-organized health care, reflect on how to meet each other in crisis, present film portraits of care-workers, formulate a manifesto about a queer and inclusive utopia, research natural healing methods on the internet, and give space to voices that experience structural discrimination inside and outside of the health care system. Through video and sound works, zines, watercolors, and posters, activist and subversive tactics are interwoven with documentary and poetic narratives. The works inspire an examination of the structural and individual dimensions of care and disentangle the binary understandings of ‘sick’ and ‘healthy’, ‘abled’ and ‘disabled’. In doing so, we can identify the structures of care that are sincerely responding to queer-feminist and anti-racist demands. They make it possible to envision a future that is non-violent and inclusive. What would the world look like if we radically acknowledged that we are all affected by sickness?

Our fellow Romily Alice Walden shows the work Notes from the Underlands (2019); against the backdrop of the critique of ableism, Walden's practice opens up a queer view of the fragility of the body. "A queer future is an accessible future" reads the first point of Romily Alice Walden's manifesto Notes from the Underlands. The text can be performed through video, audio and large-scale prints, challenging the notion that a body must be physically present and capable to perform a manifesto. For the exhibition, the manifesto will be installed as an audio work and as a poster at the Kehrwiederturm and as a video work in Angoulêmeplatz, so that passers-by and visitors can hear and read the voices from the depths of queer disability culture. They speak of a future-oriented, utopian vision of a sick, disabled and care-dependent society and formulate an urgent need for action in the now. Addressed here are all those who have a body, but especially those whose bodies do not stand out and do not encounter barriers due to social norms that can manifest themselves in all forms of accessibility.

Our alumna Lizza May David shows Cycles of Care (2011) with Claudia Liebelt; David's works in the mediums of photography, video, installation and painting often address themes of identity, autobiographical narratives, knowing and not knowing. The documentary Cycles of Care (2011) portrays five women who returned to Manila from Israel, where they worked as nannies and caregivers for the elderly in private homes. They were part of the large migration of Filipino women who left their country in search of better living conditions in a global labour market. Back in Manila, they struggle to earn a living and reintegrate into families they left many years ago. They take care of their parents or the grandchildren of daughters who migrated and replaced them in the role of family breadwinner: as part of an ongoing cycle of care.

Find the digital exhibition booklet here.

When? Where?

October 31st 2020 – January 9th 2021

Kunstverein Hildesheim

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