Reshaping public narratives around care-based labour
Cities function not only through visible architecture and infrastructure but also through the invisible, often overlooked labor that sustains them. The early morning commute, the cleanliness of public spaces, the timely arrival of waste collection trucks, all of these are made possible by people whose work is often not recognized in the narratives that define urban life. Despite their importance to the everyday functioning of society, workers in roles such as public transport, waste management, and civic maintenance remain underappreciated, both socially and symbolically.
This project arises from a deeply personal reflection on this invisibility. Growing up in India, I have witnessed how everyday labor, particularly jobs involving manual work, was stigmatized both culturally and institutionally. Later in life, especially after observing more respectful attitudes toward public workers in cities like Dublin, I began to question why such a cultural gap exists and how perceptions around labor are socially constructed and reinforced.
With these thoughts and questions, I became interested in how public narratives around labor are formed and how they might be challenged or reshaped. In parallel, I got interested in how digital platforms, particularly social media, news articles, search results, web pages, etc, reflect and reproduce these public attitudes.
This project is therefore not only a critique of public perception but also a personal reconciliation. It stems from a desire to revisit, reframe, and elevate the everyday labor that makes city life possible, labor I was once taught to overlook.
