The Artists Will Save Us
- Sue Robins
- Aug 24
- 5 min read
Historically there have been protest songs.
Provocative visual art.
Controversial books.
In 2025, you have to look hard to find anything considered anti-establishment. The people in charge of mainstream media are not keen on sharing alternative points of view.
I’ve come full circle about how to influence positive change. To me, positive change does not look like marching towards fascism or tech bros overselling AI as the solution to all that ails us.
I'm most interested movements that platform caring for one another, building community and nurturing humanity.
Positive, human-centred change isn’t about joining ranks with the establishment. The establishment is the establishment for one reason: To maintain the status quo.
During the pandemic I often said: “The government is not your friend.” I still believe that. True, there are people in the government who are working on pockets of goodness. But widespread, systemic change? That ain’t going to come from our current roster of politicians.
Let’s take one issue that I bang on my drum about:
Valuing unpaid work.
I first participated in a grassroots organization about unpaid work thirty years ago. I joined a group called Feminist Mothers at Home that was advocating for unpaid workers to be counted by Statistics Canada and have the ability to contribute to benefits and a pension. Today, Statistics Canada does ask about unpaid work in two of their surveys. The benefits/pension issues? Not much progress there. If you are self-employed, a casual worker, or a patient or caregiver, you are screwed for any substantial pension payments or health benefits coverage.
Feminist Mothers at Home got their name to differentiate from the traditional right-wing insistence that a women’s place was in the kitchen. We were a bunch of proud bleeding heart lefties who lobbied for women having a choice to stay at home and look after their kids without financial punishment. Since my first two kids were born, maternity leave in Canada doubled from 6 months to 12 or 18 months, and paternity leave has become much more common. These are good things.
When my youngest son arrived with Down syndrome twenty-two years ago, I became immersed in the world of caregiving beyond mothering typically-developing kids. My burden of unpaid work grew substantially, as I had to be my son’s coordinator in health care, rehab services, leisure activities and education. I became a reluctant advocate.
Now that Aaron is an adult, I’ve had another spike in caregiving, as I manage his schedule, which involves a lot of advocating, meetings, form-filling out, negotiation, driving and support work so that he lives a full and rich life. This is hard, lonely but ultimately meaningful work. I’ll note that ten US states have paid caregiving laws, but here in Canada, caregiving gets paid zero and is recognized even less than that.
A few years ago, I responded to a call for caregivers to be engaged in a strategy session. Silly me forgot that government-funded organizations are actually the establishment in sheep's clothing, and it will not surprise you that my big-mouth engagement was a total and complete failure.
If one has given up on joining forces with the status quo, what is a tired caregiver mom to do?
This year, I have refocused on peer support and building my own community. I got training to be a facilitator for ACT for caregivers of disabled adults, and I hope to co-host workshops for other caregivers locally. Socially-reluctant me has stepped out of my comfort zone to reach out to other caregivers for coffee dates and walks.
However, these small attempts don’t scratch the itch of calling for systemic change to value and compensate unpaid work.
Enter the artists.
Last week I was looking for something to do on the weekend. Walking about in a serene art gallery is one of my favourite ways to pass the time. (Along with going to museums and bookstores – hey, I see a trend here).
I stumbled upon the Clocking in for Unpaid Labour exhibit at Deer Lake Art Gallery in gorgeous Deer Lake Park, which is one of my favourite places to go for a walk. I took poetry classes at the nearby Shadbolt Centre when I was in the dark days post cancer treatment. My beloved father-in-law's memorial service was there too, and this park holds a special place in my heart.
Community spaces that feature art are where it is at. And this art gallery was practically in my own backyard.
Clocking in for Unpaid Labour featured artists tackling the age-old, slow-moving issue of unpaid work. How intriguing. I got my butt to the gallery and had a lovely enthusiastic chat with the two artists curating the show, Jennie Johnston and Shamira Senaratne.
How had I forgotten about art? My daughter-in-law is a visual and tattoo artist in LA who participates in direct political action. I’m a writer who uses words to shake up health care’s status quo. My son is a drummer in a grindcore band that is definitely anti-establishment. My own company works with talented creatives like videographers and animators to create alternative patient education and health care advocacy materials. I'm surrounded by art and artists.
At the art installation about unpaid work in the Deer Lake Art Gallery, there were displays about all sorts of unpaid work: mothering, caregiving, artistic endeavours and volunteer work. I do all those things, plus patient and disability advocacy work. Advocacy work in particular struggles mightily with being dismissed and devalued, which is why I'm constantly pushing for compensation for patient engagement work.
Thank you to Jennie and Shamira, two talented and creative artists, for reminding me that all work matters. Most of my own unpaid work is fuelled by love. The rest of it is fuelled by outrage. Unpaid work should also be valued through compensation, for love doesn’t pay for $9 eggs. These seemingly disparate things can be true at the same time.
Brava to the artists who platforming crucial issues with their art. Art is more than aesthetically pleasing. It CAN be deeply political.
The revolution starts in the studio, around the kitchen table, in coffee-shops and on the street. NOT at the conference or boardroom table.
I’m a writer so I write about things. Here are my receipts: I’ve written about unpaid work on Huffington Post, my websites and recently in my Ducks in a Row: Healthcare Reimagined book.
Huffington Post
On My Website
My Second Book
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