invisibilized

What happens to a story when no one is listening?

Women’s labor is everywhere, yet often unseen. It can hold families, workplaces, and societies together, yet remain unrecognized and unpaid. From caregiving to emotional labor, hidden sacrifices to wage gaps, women bear a weight the world regularly refuses to count. Their work is expected but frequently not acknowledged. Essential, yet dismissed. Vital, yet invisible.

These inequalities are not accidents; they are inheritances embedded in history and reinforced by systems that regularly reward men’s labor while erasing women’s. In paid jobs, women earn less, face penalties for motherhood, and are repeatedly overlooked. The labor that sustains life itself is undervalued because it does not generate profit.

The fight for gender equality is not mine alone, but a global struggle. In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity worldwide. Among its 17 urgent goals is the commitment to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. At the current rate, it will take 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection, and 140 years to achieve equal leadership representation. Nearly half of married women lack decision-making power over their own reproductive health. One in five girls is married before the age of 18. We are not on track: The U.N. goal will not be reached by 2030.

This project includes a four-minute video installation, reflective typography on architectural columns, and a publication. At the installation's center, a translucent curtain that represents the often-invisible labor of women, made visible through projected light. Two different projections are mapped on the curtain. On one side, animated typography shares real quotes from women from UIC and beyond, gathered through an anonymous survey. On the other side, a visual interpretation of their words is displayed. As the projections meet and overlap, they merge, echoing the tension between visibility and erasure. Each image passes through the curtain and lands on the opposite wall. Oversized typography made of mirror vinyl occupies four columns surrounding the space, reflecting the weight and reality of women’s unseen work.

 Invisibilized depicts how women’s labor has been systematically overlooked, undervalued, and hidden from economic, social, and cultural recognition. Raising awareness is only the first crack in the surface—change happens when we choose to see, question, and act. This project is more than a reflection; it is an invitation. It gives voice to the invisible. By including the words of women from the UIC community and beyond, this project aims to expose—literally and metaphorically—what has been hidden. Their stories are not just whispered grievances but proof of endurance, resistance, and truth. Because what remains unseen remains unchanged. Let us see. Let us recognize. Let us challenge. Let us no longer accept invisibility as fate.