The first major survey exhibition by British artist Barbara Walker (b.1964, Birmingham, UK), charts her compelling figurative practice from 1990s to today. Being Here presents over 70 extraordinary artworks, including rarely seen paintings, her Turner Prize nominated drawing series Burden of Proof (2022-23), and a newly commissioned printed wallpaper Soft Power (2024).

Walker is celebrated for her sensitively rendered drawings, grounded in extensive periods of research. From delicate pencil drawings on archival documents to monumentally scaled charcoal wall drawings, she uses the most traditional of techniques to give powerful presence to the conditions of our time and the histories they are rooted in. Playing with techniques of visibility and erasure, such as enlarging, cutting, obscuring and blanking out, she challenges conventions of representation to ask what it means to be seen and who and what is remembered. Intensely observed and empathetic, her work brings forth themes of body politics, power and citizenship.

The exhibition will chart the seven major series of works that Walker has made to date – brought together for the first time. It will begin with early vividly coloured paintings from Private Face (1998-2002) depicting intimate moments of her family and within communities in Birmingham. Louder than Words (2006-09) presents a tender series of mixed media drawings on police
dockets and newspaper articles made in response to her son being repeatedly stopped and searched by police. Reflecting Walker’s research driven practice, Shock and Awe (2015-20) foregrounds the overlooked contributions of Black servicemen and women to contemporary and historic war efforts, using techniques of erasure such as blind embossing to disrupt the archive. Vanishing Point (2018-present) and Marking the Moment (2021-present) repeatedly engage with European Old Master paintings, transforming the historic image to spotlight the once marginalised Black figure, creating alternative of ways of seeing for a new generation.

The monumental series Burden of Proof (2022-23), commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation with the support of the Whitworth, imbues a sense of humanity and reverence to the Caribbean- born individuals impacted by the Windrush scandal. A major new wallpaper installation, Soft Power (2024) will further spotlight these histories and the artist’s continued experimentation with materials. Inspired by the Whitworth’s internationally renowned collections of textiles and wallpapers and the history of French Toile de Jouy design, Walker will expand upon her vast wall drawings to create an enveloping patterned wallpaper environment featuring Windrush communities in Manchester alongside landscape and decorative elements.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue generating new research and understandings of Walker’s celebrated practice.

whitworth.manchester.ac.uk