Why small acts of care matter now, more than ever
For many of us, its a terrifying time to be alive. Wars are breaking out around the world, with death tolls rising daily. Cities are burning, as climate change exacts its toll. Democracy is on the decline and authoritarianism is risingincluding here in America.In the face of so much instability, Ive been paralyzed. I havent had it in me to take to the streets in protest. Ive been pouring what little energy I have into caring for my children, looking out for my neighbors, gathering with friends. This caregiving feel so paltry in the face of global tragedy. But what if its not? What if small acts of care are actually profound acts of resistance?Cameron Russell, the author and activist, wants us to rethink caregiving.She and her longtime collaborator, photographer Mei Tao, just launched an art exhibition calledThe Art of CareatGallery 263in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The show elevates acts of care into works of art. It displays sweaters and quilts crafted to keep a loved ones warm, along with photographs of haircuts, meals, and made-up games to keep children entertained.Cameron Russell & Mei Tao: The Art of Care at Gallery 236, Cambridge, MA. 2025. [Photo: Darrick Harris/courtesy The Art of Care]The show makes the bigger argument that caregiving is transformative. Acts of care allow us to keep one another healthy and happy, but they also foster stronger, kinder, and more stable communities. They allow us to gather the strength we need to eventually rise up and create more systemic political change.[Photo: courtesy The Art of Care]Its an important message now, at the beginning of a new administration whose policies will harm undocumented immigrants, transpeople, and women. This past election, I felt so powerless, she recalls. I had to sit with the reality that there is so little I can do as an individual. But then I realize that through caregiving, we build the muscle, and labor, and skill we need to resist.Caregiving In FashionRussell is best known for her work as a model in the fashion industry, which she documents in her recent memoir, How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone. Scouted at 16, she quickly rose through the industry, appearing on the covers of Vogue and Elle; walking the runway for Chanel and Louis Vuitton; and starring in ad campaigns for Calvin Klein and H&M. But it didnt take long for her to see firsthand the injustices that occur at every stage of the fashion industry, from the sexual harassment that models endure to the garment workers who labor under unsafe conditions while struggling to feed their families to its gargantuan climate impact. [Cover Image: Random House]In her book, Russell describes how she was both a victim of the industrys evils, but also complicit in them. She experienced sexual harassment at the hands of photographers and agents, while simultaneously acknowledging that she was getting paid enormous sums of money to market clothes for brands that abused their workers. It took her years to make sense of it all. She responded by becoming an activist. She began attendingthen organizingprotests to fight for garment workers rights and demand that brands be accountable for their environmental impact.But then it became clear to her that caregiving is effectively a form of activism. Care work was my respite from feeling powerless, she says. Taking care of the people that I can tangibly reach is a place where I have agency and can make a difference. But as I looked at some of the wisest and most skilled caregivers, I realized that they knew how to go bigger, turn these acts of care into broader systemic change.To Russell, one form of caregiving was looking out for other models in her orbit and listening to their experiences of sexual harassment and rape. But she saw that this simple act of care could also become a form of activism. In the midst of the #MeToo movement, she began anonymously posting these stories on her Instagram account. These stories went viral, helping to draw attention to systemic problems in the fashion industry.Cynthia Albertos handlooms, at the How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone Book Launch, 2024. [Photo: Mary Kang/courtesy The Art of Care]Acts of Care Are PoliticalThe Art of Care exhibit is a natural extension of this work. There are carefully knitted sweaters and handmade wooden chairs displayed as works of art. On the walls, people in the community have shared pictures of artifacts that reflect caregiving, like birthday cakes and flower crowns. Theres a joyful portrait of musician RoseLove Joseph playing the ukulele to her daughter Ilani Maat Neter while theyre out in the snow.There are large photographs lensed by Mei Tao, a fashion photographer who has shot everyone from Michelle Obama to the stars ofBridgerton.In one photo, her father is wearinga baseball cap from Emory University. Tao explains that she brings him caps from all the places she visits, so he can feel like he was part of the journey.The photo is accompanied by a QR code where visitors can hear an edit of decades of her fatherformerly and actor and radio show host, work that stopped when they left Chinadelivering gripping performances of family history and lore just for the family.In another archival image,her daughter Dashiel Tao Harris, had photographed a Chinese meal he made. At home, we would put newspaper on the table, to keep the table clean, Tao says. Its an immigrant thing. (Tao was born in China and raised in Brooklyn.)In another series, Russellsgrandmother is pictured in her home where shes painted everything in bright colors. In one photo, this grandmother paints Russells sisters face. In another photo, Russells sister looks up while relatives give her a haircut.The show makes it clear that care work can also be political. It was her son, a freshman in high school, who reminded her of Gandhis acts of caregiving. We often tend to think about Gandhi as a powerful organizer, who led campaigns of non-violent resistance against the British in an effort to help India gain independence. But, in a panel at the exhibit, Russell describes how Gandhi also spent hours at a spinning wheel turning cotton into thread which would be woven into fabric.[Photo: courtesy The Art of Care]Making fabric was a way for Gandhi to create garments that would clothe the people around him. But it was also a radical act. At the time, the British controlled the global textile trade. The British government took Indian cotton to England to be turned into cloth, which it then sold back to Indians at a large markup. It was yet another way for the colonizer to extract wealth from the colonized. For Gandhi, making cloth was a way of demonstrating that Indians could be economically independent from the British, paving the way for their political independence. There was so much meaning in that act, Russell says. He was reclaiming culture, refusing to dress like the colonizer. He was divesting from the economy, which ultimately allowed India to reject foreign rule.For Russell, Gandhis example is powerful, particularly as someone who is embedded in the fashion industry, where clothing continues to be tied to oppression. But it also says something bigger about caregiving. The personal is political. The small acts of care we show our families and communities are connected to broader systems of power. They nourish us and give us the strength to fight when we need to. Movements require a collective, she says. And by taking care of each other, we gather the strength we need to move forward.
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