« Every Mother is a Working Mother » is an art installation about unpaid care work and the resulting gender pay gap. By comparing a paid chef to a mother who is cooking, the project visualizes that the same type of work can have different value, based on who performs it.

Julia Daser is a creative technologist who works with code and physical fabrication to make important data more legible and engaging to diverse audiences.

Installation diagram

01. Insert coins; coins are distributed based on financial compensation in reality.

02. Turn Handle activates system of gears to makes figures cook while moving coins across table.

03. Result is over time, the restaurant cook’s storage tubes fill with coins, while the care workers remain nearly empty.