Project showcased in the exhibition Contexto urbano y sociedad

Since I can remember, the hands that have cared for me have shared the weight and burden of family care responsibilities. This role, traditionally assigned to women and passed down through generations, has been reflected in their hands.

Over time, I have noticed how the hands of my mother and aunt have increasingly resembled those of my grandmother, along with the mental load that comes with managing the care tasks for a family. Hands, seen as extensions of the brain and heart, reflect within their layers of skin the history written over time, serving as our primary tool for action. They are the physical and tangible manifestation of our ability to do, create, and care. Care, understood as an act that transcends the merely physical.

The care theory emerged as a response to the need to recognize and value the work of caregiving, traditionally performed by women—by my grandmother, my mother, and my aunt. This theoretical approach emerged from the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, where feminists like Carol Gilligan (1936) questioned the prevailing moral theories, pointing out that they did not take into account the specific ethical concerns of women. Through her research, she argued that women’s moral judgment was not inferior, but different, and deserved to be acknowledged.