New Exhibition Care Matters Exposes the Hidden Burden of Unpaid Labor

A new exhibition titled Care Matters shines a light on the often invisible labour of housework, childcare and elder care. Through artworks spanning five decades, the show reveals how domestic responsibilities remain unevenly distributed—especially after major life changes like parenthood. The pieces, mostly by women artists, blend sharp social commentary with unexpected humour.

The exhibition contrasts contemporary works with feminist avant-garde pieces from the 1970s. Nicole Wermers' striking sculpture of a naked woman draped over a cleaning trolley anchors the section on reproductive labour. Nearby, Margot Pilz's 1973 photograph The Caretaker and His Shadow captures a maid's uniform in motion, underscoring how domestic work often goes unnoticed.

Akihito Yoshida's photographs flip traditional caregiving roles, showing a grandson tending to his elderly grandmother. British artist Hannah Cooke challenges stereotypes by reinterpreting famous performances—like those by Marina Abramović and Tracey Emin—while holding her young daughter, Ada. Her work pushes back against the idea that motherhood and artistic practice can't coexist. Dark humour surfaces in Christine Lederer's dish towel, printed with the instruction *Please clean quietly*. Meanwhile, Mary Sibande's photograph *They Don't Make Them Like They Used To* examines the harsh realities faced by Black domestic workers under apartheid. Curator Gabriele Schor grounds the show in data, noting that while 70% of heterosexual couples split chores equally before children, this plummets to 15% after their first child arrives. The exhibition's themes mirror persistent inequalities in Austria, where women still perform around 70% of unpaid care work. Long maternity leaves, minimal paternal involvement, and early caregiving by girls (70% of young carers) reinforce the gap. Though feminist movements have raised awareness, progress lags behind EU targets—like the Barcelona objectives on childcare. Germany's 44.3% gender care gap (women doing nine more hours of unpaid work weekly) and EU-wide pay disparities of 12–16% show similar patterns across Europe.

Care Matters brings together artists from Lena Henke to Sophie Gogl, exposing how care labour remains undervalued and disproportionately shouldered by women. The works highlight structural issues that persist despite decades of activism. Data from Austria and beyond confirms that, even as policies shift slightly, the burden of unpaid work still falls unevenly.