Intro
Created by artist Marisa Morán Jahn in collaboration with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the CareForce is an ongoing project amplifying the voices of America’s fastest growing workforce — caregivers. The CareForce consists of two mobile studios (NannyVan, CareForce One), an app for domestic workers that CNN named as “one of 5 apps to change the world,” choreographed dances, printed works, and a 24 minute PBS/ITVS film entitled CareForce One Travelogues. This body of artwork as a whole has been featured at The White House, United Nations, and municipal institutions; cultural venues such as The Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Venice Biennale of Architecture; universities including MIT, Harvard University, and UC Berkeley Law School; community centers, libraries, and grassroots events such as National Nanny Training Day.
About the Film
A humorous and touching road tale, the CareForce One Travelogues features Marisa, her son Choco, and their buddy Anjum Asharia as they travel from their homes in NYC to Miami in a fifty-year old station wagon, the CareForce One. Meeting up with nannies, housekeepers, caregivers, and allies along the way, this series explores how care intersects with some of today's most pressing issues — immigration, the legacies of slavery, racial discrimination, and more. After the film’s world premiere at the Brooklyn Museum and U.S. premiere at Pérez Art Museum of Miami, the film was made free to the public.
Produced by Marisa Morán Jahn and Yael Melamede (SALTY Features); Directed by Marc Shavitz.
“I’d been working as a nanny for the past 15 years. On the day that I saw the CareForce One, I decided I was ready to become a leader.” —Ana Cipoletta, worker-leader, Matahari Women’s Worker Center in Boston
“[CareForce One Travelogues] focuses on an American experience that’s not often in the foreground of popular culture: caregiving.” — Hyperallergic
“Careforce One Travelogues draws new connections between women’s work, race and class.” —Mic.com
“[CareForce] exemplifies the possibilities of art as social practice.” —Artforum
“The CareForce harnesses the catalytic power of art, architecture, and storytelling to dream bigger, dream futures into being that we’ve never experienced and create new protagonists.” —Ai-jen Poo, Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Co-Director, Caring Across Generations
“The CareForce literally changed how my employers treated me.” —June Barrett, caregiver and worker leader
Project Overview
CareHaus
As the newest extension of the CareForce, Carehaus is the United States' first care-based, co-housing project. In a Carehaus, disabled and older adults, caregivers and their families live in independent living units clustered around shared spaces. In exchange for their labor, caregivers receive good wages, childcare, and various benefits. An additional team engages residents in shared meals, horticulture, art, fitness, physical therapy, financial literacy courses, and more. Carehaus was initiated by Marisa who then reached out to architect Rafi Segal and developer/urban planner Ernst Valery to co-found the project. http://carehaus.net
Carehaus, 2022. Design by architect Rafi Segal with collaborating artist Marisa Morán Jahn.
Carehaus poster designed by Marisa Morán Jahn 2021
Gallery
Silkscreen print by Marisa Morán Jahn, 2016
Silkscreen print by Marisa Morán Jahn, 2016
Silkscreen print by Marisa Morán Jahn, 2016
Silkscreen print by Marisa Morán Jahn, 2016
Audionovela session with members of Pilipino Worker Center, Los Angeles, 2013
Collaborators from Brazilian Worker Center, Boston, 2017
Barbara Young, one of the co-founders of National Domestic Workers Alliance, after presenting our work at the White House Department of Labor, 2014
CareForce One on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall with members of Pilipino Worker Center, Instituto de Educación Popular de Sur de California (IDEPSCA), and Coalition for Humane Immigrant RIghts of Los Angeles (CHRLA), 2017
Press
Team
Lead Artist: Marisa Morán Jahn
CareForce Co-Pilot: Anjum Asharia
Key Teammate: Anya Krawcheck
Film Producers: Marisa Morán Jahn and Yael Melamede
Director & Dir of Photography: Marc Shavitz
Additional Crew: Taehee Whang, Noelia Dominguez
Editors: Saleem Reshamwala, Lizzie Minges (trailer)
Film crew: Elana Meyers, Nick Capezzera, Mark Stetson
Advisors
Ai-jen Poo, Co-Founder, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Caring Across Generations
Sunny Bates, Board Member, TED Talks, Kickstarter
Kendal Henry, Curator, Percent for Art Program, NYC
Marisa Mazria Katz, Journalist; Eyebeam
Christiane Paul, Curator, The Whitney, and Professor, The New School
Amy Rosenblum-Martín, Project Curator, PS1/MoMA
Jules Rochielle, Artist; NuLawLab
Lina Srivastava, Social Impact Producer, Founder, CIEL
Tricia Wang, Tech Ethnographer
Organizational Partners
National Domestic Workers Alliance, Caring Across Generations, NuLawLab, Northeastern University Law School, National Employment Law Project, Urban Justice Center, Legal Aid Society, Brazilian Worker Center, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Pilipino Worker Center, Adhikaar for Human Rights, Hand in Hand: Domestic Employer Association, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Domestic Workers United, Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), Affiliated and unaffiliated domestic worker groups across the nation.
MIT Open Doc Lab, MIT Center for Civic Media, Terravoz, Arizona State University Art Museum, Queens Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Oakland Museum, Columbia College Chicago, 18th St. Arts, New York Arts Practicum
Support
Sundance Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Fledgling Fund, Map Fund, Asian American Giving Circle, National Endowment for the Arts, Franklin Furnace.