What Is Caregiving?
Caregiving is a universal human experience that affects everyone at some point in their lives—as givers, receivers, or witnesses of care.
Defining Caregiving
Caregiving encompasses the wide range of activities people do to help others who need assistance with daily life. This can include physical care, emotional support, managing healthcare, helping with household tasks, and simply being present for someone in need.
While we often think of caregiving in terms of professional healthcare or caring for older family members, caregiving takes many forms: parents caring for children, children caring for aging parents, friends supporting each other through illness, neighbors looking out for one another, and communities coming together in times of need.
Caregiving is both deeply personal and universally shared. Each act of care is unique to the relationship and circumstances, yet the experience of giving and receiving care connects us across cultures, generations, and backgrounds.
Why Caregiving Matters
Caregiving is essential to human flourishing. Without care, none of us would survive infancy, recover from illness, or navigate the challenges of aging. Care sustains not just individuals but entire communities and societies.
Yet caregiving often goes unrecognized and undervalued. Much of the work of care happens invisibly—in homes, in quiet moments, in the small daily acts that keep families and communities functioning. By making caregiving visible, we honor those who give care and acknowledge its profound importance.
Understanding caregiving also helps us recognize its challenges. Caregivers often experience stress, exhaustion, and isolation. When we see and appreciate the work of care, we can better support those who provide it.
Care Across Generations
Caregiving flows in multiple directions across generations. Parents care for children, but children also care for parents as they age. Grandparents often play vital caregiving roles, and grandchildren may become caregivers themselves. Generations of community members care for one another.
These intergenerational relationships create webs of care that strengthen families and communities. Through caregiving, knowledge, values, and traditions are passed down. Skills are taught. Stories are shared. Bonds are formed that transcend individual lifetimes.
The photographs in this exhibition capture moments across the full spectrum of intergenerational care—from the gentle guidance of teaching to the tender support of caring for those at the end of life.
Where Care Happens
In Families
Family caregiving includes caring for children, supporting aging parents and older adults, helping siblings, and caring for spouses or partners. These relationships often involve the most intimate and sustained forms of care. We recognize the expansive view that family is who one says it is, whether the relationship is biological or chosen.
Among Friends
Friendships involve their own forms of caregiving—emotional support during difficult times, practical help when needed, and the ongoing care of maintaining connection and being present for one another.
In Health Care Settings
Professional caregivers—nurses, doctors, aides, therapists—provide essential care in hospitals, clinics, and homes. Their work combines technical skill with compassion and human connection.
In Communities
Community caregiving takes many forms: neighbors helping neighbors, volunteers serving those in need, teachers nurturing students, coaches mentoring young people. These connections weave the fabric of community life.
Caregiving Resources
If you are a caregiver or want to learn more about supporting caregivers, these resources may be helpful:
National Alliance for Caregiving
A nonprofit coalition dedicated to advancing family caregiving through research, innovation, and advocacy.
caregiving.org →Family Caregiver Alliance
Information, education, services, research, and advocacy for caregivers.
caregiver.org →AARP Caregiving Resource Center
Tools, tips, and support for family caregivers.
aarp.org/caregiving →Explore the Exhibition
See caregiving through the eyes of those who live it every day.
Enter the Exhibit