This presentation explores how visibility, care, and subjectivity are produced through Indonesia’s stunting reduction program. Using visual ethnography, it examines how the classification di bawah garis merah (under the red line) makes children legible to intervention by linking measurements to predefined causes and responses. These practices, while technical on the surface, are deeply affective and ethical, especially for volunteer kader who frame their unpaid labor as kerja sosial — a moral and spiritual duty. Drawing on concepts of legibility (James Scott) and self-in-process (Tanya Jakimow), the presentation shows how development functions as a site of ethical self-making. Rather than questioning whether care is real or performed, it highlights performance as a way people live, negotiate, and give meaning to their role within systems of governance and accountability.

Keywords: care, legibility, performance, subjectivity, development, stunting, Indonesia