The Whitworth, Manchester • August 1, 2026 – August 29, 2027 (Upcoming Exhibition)
When we hear the words “care” or “compassion,” a soft, spiritual, and naturally flowing emotional state usually comes to mind. Yet, within the cogs of the modern healthcare system, care is first and foremost a heavy, invisible, and structurally exhausting form of labor. The Whitworth gallery in Manchester turns its focus toward precisely this raw reality—the unseen world of midwives and maternal healthcare workers—with its upcoming exhibition, “The Labour of Care,” set to open its doors this August. Contrary to what conventional agency press releases claim, this is not a sterile glorification of compassion; it is an institutional and deeply human document of resistance rising from the high-pressure rooms of maternity wards.
A Pause Outside the Clinical Routine
Realized in partnership with the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the project dissects the immense systemic pressure placed upon those working on the frontlines of maternity services, and the emotional resilience developed against it.
The roots of the exhibition stem from the artist-led workshops titled Still Care, which began at the Whitworth in 2023. This program was designed as a collective sanctuary for midwives and clinical staff to slow down for a moment amidst the relentless medical rush, shifts, and bureaucracy, allowing them to breathe and reconnect with the human essence of their profession. The works we will witness in the exhibition took shape during these mandatory moments of pause.
Shift Stories Confronting Iconic Names
The exhibition places the new-era works produced by healthcare workers with their own hands during these workshops into a direct dialogue with masterpieces selected from the Whitworth’s internationally renowned permanent collection. Thanks to this radical curatorial move, the lived personal experiences of maternity ward staff collide on the exact same plane with the works of titanic names in contemporary art:
- Marina Abramović & L.S. Lowry: The raw productions of healthcare workers are juxtaposed with Abramović’s performative language that pushes the boundaries of endurance, and Lowry’s figures capturing industrial urban loneliness, gutting open the social background of care.
- Ghislaine Howard & Caroline Walker: The canvases of these two artists elevate the immense tension of childbirth and the mundane routines of daily care actions into an aesthetic form with absolute nakedness.
- Courtney Conrad’s Poem On Shift (2024): Commissioned by the Birth Rites Collection and exhibited in Manchester for the first time, this work is distilled from in-depth interviews with Black midwives confronting early labor processes. It places the cry of subjects who are frequently silenced and marginalized in public spheres and institutional hierarchies directly at the center of the gallery space.
“Creative practice and collective dialogue render the heavy, complex, and sometimes devastating emotional intensity of bearing the responsibility of others’ lives visible beyond words.”
In a world where hierarchical systems and neoliberal healthcare policies attempt to numb us, The Labour of Care proves how deeply political and human an insistence it is to care for and witness the pain and birth of another. Set to be on view in Manchester for the upcoming year, this exhibition invites us to confront our own vulnerability and the real faces behind those masked, anonymous scrubs in hospital corridors.
Exhibition Details:
- Venue: The Whitworth, Manchester
- Exhibition Title: The Labour of Care
- Dates: August 1, 2026 – August 29, 2027 (Upcoming Exhibition)
- Institutional Partner: Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust & Birth Rites Collection
- Featured Artists Include: Marina Abramović, L.S. Lowry, Ghislaine Howard, Caroline Walker, and Courtney Conrad.
