Women in Cultic Space:
Navigating Hierarchy, Invisibility, and Hidden Labor 

My working definition of care is not based on its conventional understanding as support, empathy, or maintenance, but rather on what I call [Care]—a manipulative and domineering form of care. This form of care operates under the guise of benevolence, often beginning with an attitude of “for your own good,” yet gradually transforming into a system of control, regulation, and submission. In this way, care becomes a spatial and social mechanism that produces obedience while masking itself as protection. My aim is not to represent care as a positive or neutral condition, but to expose how it can function as an instrument of power. 

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My display strategy consists of two interconnected parts that together form an experiential and analytical framework. The first part is a visual archive. that consolidates the fragmented and multi-layered research on cultic space and its spatial politics. It features materials such as newspaper clippings, social media prints, invitations, announcements, photographs, maps, and relational diagrams. Rather than presenting a neat or linear narrative, this archive is intentionally dense, layered, and open-ended. It is displayed as a hanging investigation board, allowing visitors to interact physically—opening accordion maps, taking photographs from envelopes, and sliding documents to explore connections. This stage invites visitors to search, select, and associate, thereby fostering an attention that reflects the research process. 

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The second part is an interactive installation that specifically examines women’s condition within the cultic spatial system. This focus emerged from the realization that although manipulative care mechanisms affect all individuals, women face an additional layer of spatial and social invisibility. Within the hierarchical structure, women are placed in lower positions, yet they constitute a significant part of the unpaid labor force. They engage in tasks like cleaning, cooking, hosting, and production, yet their spatial access is strictly limited. Their movement is confined to designated courtyards, and infrastructure such as tunnels is constructed to maintain their presence invisible within the village.

 

The interactive installation translates this condition into a multi-layered spatial system, where each layer represents different aspects of spatial organization, movement, and hierarchy. Information cards introduce key elements such as rituals, spatial zones, and figures, while abstract physical figures signify hierarchical roles rather than individual identities. The presence of only one male figure—the sheikh—highlights the asymmetry in spatial access and authority. Visitors can remove layers using a sliding system, enabling them to trace movements, overlaps, and restrictions. In this sense, the display does not simply present information but also constructs a process that encourages visitors to actively uncovers spatial relations and power structures. 

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By structuring the exhibition in this way, I deliberately exclude the possibility of passive viewing. Visitors cannot remain distant, passive observers; instead, they are positioned as active participants—more like investigators who navigates, uncovers, and reconstructs the narrative. 

Ultimately, the display seeks not to showcase care but to perform it as a contested and complex concept. By constructing processes of attention, interaction, and partial visibility, it exposes how care can operate as both a form of maintenance and a mechanism of control, shaping bodies, spaces, and relations in unequal ways. 

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