Barbara Walker (artist)
Barbara Walker MBE (born Birmingham, UK) is a British artist who lives and works in Birmingham.[1] The art historian Eddie Chambers calls her "one of the most talented, productive and committed artists of her generation".[2] She is known for colossal figurative drawings and paintings, often drawn directly onto the walls of the gallery, that frequently explore themes of documentation and recording, and erasure.[3][4] Walker describes her work as social documentary, intended to address misunderstandings and stereotypes about the African-Caribbean community in Britain.[5]
Walker grew in a Jamaican family in Birmingham and graduated from the University of Central England, Birmingham in 1996.[6] Her work is part of private and public collections including the Arts Council Collection and the Usher Gallery.[7] She was selected to be included in the first Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017.[6]
In 2017 Walker was awarded the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award, part of the Jerwood Drawing Prize.[8] Walker was awarded the 2020 Bridget Riley Fellowship at The British School at Rome. [9]
She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to British Art.
Selected exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
- Shock and Awe, curated by Lynda Morris and Craig Ashley, mac, Birmingham, 2016
- Louder Than Words, Unit 2 Gallery, London Metropolitan University, 2006
- Testimonies, Queen’s Hall, Northumberland, 2005
- Private Face, EMACA, Nottingham, 2002
Group exhibitions
- Protest and Remembrance, Alan Cristea Gallery, 2019
- UNTITLED: Art on the Conditions of Our Time, New Art Exchange, 2017
- The Meaning of Style: Black British Style, and the underlying political and social environment, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2010
- Families, Oxford House, London, 2006
- Birmingham Artsfest 06, 2006
- True Stories, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 2003
- Intervention Project, Birmingham, 2002
References
- "Barbara Walker". Diaspora Artists. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- Chambers, Eddie (2014). Black Artists in British Art: A History since the 1950s. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9780857736086.
- "Barbara Walker's large scale drawings remember Britain's Black servicemen and women | Arts Council England". www.artscouncil.org.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- Young, Graham (21 March 2014). "Birmingham artist is challenging stereotypes". birminghampost. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- "Boundary I | Arts Council Collection". www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- "Barbara Walker". ICF | International Curators Forum. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- Barnfield, Stacey (6 May 2014). "UK's biggest loan collection of British art buys work by West Midlands artists". birminghampost. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- "Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 - Jerwood Visual Arts". Jerwood Visual Arts. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- https://turnercontemporary.org/whats-on/barbara-walker-place-space-and-who/