Barbara Walker: Being Here at The Whitworth

The Whitworth has a very special art treat for us this autumn: the first major survey exhibition by British artist Barbara Walker.

Barbara Walker: Being Here charts the artist’s work from the last three decades, with a particular focus on six major series from the her oeuvre: Private Face (1998-2005) Louder Than Words (2006-09), Show and Tell (2008-15), Shock and Awe (2015-20), Vanishing Point (2018-ongoing) and Burden of Proof (2022-23). Walker has also created a brand new wallpaper piece inspired by the Whitworth’s extensive collection, which ties into her ongoing work of recording and representing the Windrush generation.

Predominantly concerned with race and representation through history to today, Walker makes visible the Black experience through figurative charcoal drawings, paintings and installations. Her work tackles a wide range of issues, from authority and the surveillance of Black life to historical representation in the works of Old Masters and wartime photography. 

Walker was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2023 with her series Burden of Proof which was a direct response to news of the Windrush Scandal in 2018. For the series, the artist approached some of the individuals affected and created their portraits against hand-drawn  facsimiles of the original documents, which were used as evidence to prove their right to remain in the country. 

Drawn with incredible skill based on careful observation, the resulting pieces are piercingly honest and compel viewers to confront the issues faced by Black communities every day. Walker’s subjects are drawn with a tenderness that stems from both an emotional investment in the cause as well as her passion for the drawing process.

The artist often creates monumental charcoal drawings directly on gallery walls, which means that she’s aware of their eventual disappearance before the work even begins. Indeed, erasure is a constant motif in her work, becoming the focal point in the series Vanishing Point. Here, Walker takes Western European paintings and removes (with the use of embossing) the central subject, often a white royal or noble and, instead focuses on the black figure in each piece, often in the role of slave or servant. The series subtly reverses and draws attention to historical erasure.

Barbara Walker: Being Here is a simply unmissable show – make the most of it being on our doorstep.