Caring through art: Reimagining value as political practice

Abstract

Recent feminist critiques of neo-liberalism have argued for care as an alternative structuring principle for political systems in crisis and have proposed that the transformation of the existing capitalist order demands the abolition of the (gendered) hierarchy between ‘care’ – the activities of social reproduction that nurture individuals and sustain social bonds – and economic production. Key to answering what it might mean for care to become the central concern or core process of politics is imagining alternatives outside deeply ingrained and guarded conventions. It is in this imagining that artists have much to contribute, more so still because for many artists, maintaining a practice in neo-liberal contexts demands nurturing collectivities, sensitivities and resourcefulness – essential aspects of care. By focusing on recent Australian examples, this article examines what role artists can play in engaging with, interpreting or enacting care in practices – such as works of self-care, care for country and the environment, care for material culture and heritage, care for institutions and processes, and care for others – which might help forge an alternative ethics in the age of neo-liberalism. This exploration is driven by the need for a contemporary values revolution as we – as a species, as a planet – face existential threats including climate emergency and terminal inequality. Can art be a generative site to work towards alternative ethics that privilege trans-subjective relations predicated on attentiveness and tending, on spending time, on holding space?