A woman’s work is never done.

“They say it is love, we say it is unwaged work”-  Silvia Federici

What comes to mind when you think of women’s work?

Do you think of domestic labor? The never ending chores; dusting, vacuuming, wiping, sweeping, and mopping on repeat. All of the meals cooked, groceries stocked, laundry spun, and linens folded.

Or do you of think of physical (physical labor is the above as well. How about bodily labor?) labor? From the ups and downs of managing menstrual cycles, managing undiagnosed, underfunded, and underrecognized “women’s problems?  The transformation of pregnancy, the intensity of childbirth, or the exhaustion of child rearing? 

Do you think of emotional labor? The management of one’s household? Navigating and nurturing family and partner stories, moods, and schedules? Or the management of your own emotions to avoid being labeled “hysterical?”  Or the constant voice echoing reminders to never leave your drink alone, always walk with your keys between your fingers, always look for your closest weapon, and always have a plan if you come across a man or a bear alone in the woods. And don’t forget, always be smiling! (I am not sure about this last sentence. It seems to flavor the questions in a predetermined way)

Do you think of sexual responsibility? The labor of taking birth control every day at the exact same time, or else?... or the worry if your partner will respect your boundaries? Or, the worry that comes with checking your calendar for a date and time each month that will determine the rest of your future.

Perhaps you think of your grandmother, your mother, your circle of friends gathering weekly to craft, working away on some kind of repetitive stitches or mark making, needlepoint, knitting, quilting. Maybe this reminds you of the unfair wages of women laborers, from craftswomen’s work to be overlooked as domestic items, to capital exploitation of women textile and agricultural workers, and ultimately to the wage gap between genders. Maybe this reminds you of the “equal” opportunities for women in the workforce that are made impossible by societal expectations, access to child care, gendered chores around the office, and always being assigned as the designated note taker.

Or maybe, you are constantly reminded that through all of this unpaid, unspoken, and uncredited, and unending labor, it really is girls who run the world from the underground.

Hera Gallery has curated a selection of 52 works that speak to the invisible job descriptions most often designated to those assigned female at birth. LABOR will take place throughout the year of 2026. All selected works will be on virtual display throughout the duration of the exhibition on heragallery.org. Each week, Hera Gallery will choose one featured artist and their work from the exhibition to be posted on all social media accounts. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming virtual artist talks!

Tumi Johnson

Les Mères

7:47

2025

Les Mères is a Healing Peomdance that explores the emotional labor of womanhood, through the lens of mothering. .  As a physician, poet, and dancer, I am deeply curious about the intersecting space between art and healing.  The word “hysteria” means wandering uterus, and has been ascribed to women with a connotation that is rife with disdain at best and as a reasoning for unsolicited intervention-medication, invasive intrusion.  So what does it mean to mother?  And in what ways do we mother whether or not we are mothers in the “usual” sense?  Does it allow space for wandering? For the wandering uterus?  And how does the “first mother” offer medicine around these wounds around mothering and labels of hysteria ?  These are the questions that I explore through this dance video art piece.

Lindsay Carlton

Pussy Galore

1:39

2024

A tiled video influenced by The Brady Bunch intro, featuring a brightly colored avatar lip-syncing to found audio of clips from The Real Housewives franchise which builds to a jarring end by critiquing the enduring housewife archetype across television history.