Care sustains feminist movements in times of crisis.

Digital illustrations for a research framework on the care of activists and human rights defenders in contexts of crisis, understanding collective care as a political practice that sustains life, organising and feminist movements.

Digital illustration.

Conceptualisation / Illustration / Graphic assets

Urgent Action Sister Funds is a network of feminist funds supporting frontline movements led by women, trans and non-binary people working towards social justice, human rights and the sustainability of feminist movements.

Challenge.

To translate a document centred on the care of activists and human rights defenders into 10 illustrations that spoke about care as the foundation of feminist crisis response, within the context of the Global South.

“[Collective care] centers the wholeness and sustainability of people, activism and the planet”

Process.

Through nature, posture and colour, with an emphasis on South Asian visual motifs, the illustrations seek to represent different dimensions of the work activists and defenders sustain in order to keep going: protection, rest, listening, grief, accompaniment, resilience and hope. Yes, there is crisis; but there is also community, memory and the possibility of a future.

Solution.

The illustrations became the visual foundation for the Global Convening on Crisis and Care, held in May 2025, a gathering that brought together activists, human rights defenders, allies and key actors from the global feminist ecosystem.

The series was used as the main visual language for the event website, social media communications across the Urgent Action Funds, and physical materials produced for the gathering.

Studio project at Fósforo