Barbara Walker

“With my mother having worked for, and one of my daughters now working for, the NHS, and another also a frontline worker, service to the nation’s health is very much a family matter in our household. Frontline NHS staff are of course particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, and the susceptibility of ethnic minorities to the pandemic is sadly a matter of fact. My daughter bears witness to personal stories of surviving the virus. Not only surviving it, but immediately upon recovery, returning to frontline NHS duties. These artworks are all about giving thanks and paying tribute to the brave people who have done, and are doing, so much to protect us all. The drawings capture and show my friend Rosemary, who is a nurse, her head in three positions and her face bearing three different expressions. I wanted to capture the sense of quiet dedication, dignity and commitment that she, and indeed, a great many other NHS workers, embody. The drawings do though, through the heavy tonal background I have used on two of them, evoke something of the ominousness and challenges of the times ahead, as well as the times we are currently living through. I was however keen to convey the feeling of optimism that we all need to get ourselves through these difficult days. I am so proud of my daughters. I am so proud of my friend, Rosemary. I am so proud of our NHS.”

Barbara Walker, Rosemary I-3, 2020, Graphite and conte on paper, 29x 40 cm. Photographer Chris Keenan. Courtesy of artist.

Rosemary I,II,III installed in the Newham Hospital Emergency Department Staff quiet room

Barbara Walker is a British artist based in Birmingham in the UK. Her practice is concerned with issues of class and power, gender, race, representation and belonging. Her figurative drawings and paintings tell contemporary stories hinged on historical circumstances, and issues of visibility and representation are central to Walker’s practice.

Walker’s recent solo exhibitions include Place, Space and Who (2019) at Turner Contemporary and Shock and Awe at Midlands Arts Centre (2016). Her works have been included in significant group exhibitions in the UK and internationally; including Summer Show, Royal Academy of Arts (2019), Diaspora Pavilion,57th Venice Biennale (2017) and The Gallery of Small Things, Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2018). Her work is held in private and public collections and Walker was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to British Art. She has been awarded the Paul Hamlyn Artist Award 2020, and Bridget Riley Fellowship 2020 at The British School at Rome. She has been nominated for the Turner Prize 2023