Barbara Walker MBE, RA (born 1964, Birmingham, UK) is a British artist described by art historian Eddie Chambers as “one of the most talented, productive and committed artists of her generation.”
Walker studied Art and Design at the University of Central England, Birmingham (1993 to 1996) and Wolverhampton University (2003 to 2004). She has had regular solo shows throughout her career including at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham (2002, 2007, 2016); Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2018); and Turner Contemporary, Margate (2019 to 2021).
Her work has been included in over sixty group presentations since 1995, most recently: The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, National Portrait Gallery, London (2024); Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (2023); Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023); Life Between Islands, Caribbean – British Art, 50s to Now, Art Gallery Ontario, Canada (2023) and Tate Britain (2021) and Lahore Biennale 02: Between the Sun and the Moon (2020). In 2023 Walker was nominated for the Turner Prize and elected to the Royal Academy of Arts.
In 2021 the Whitworth acquired three works from Walker’s Shock and Awe series (2015 to 2020). Her work is held in public collections including Arts Council Collection, UK; British Museum, UK; Government Art Collection, UK; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; Tate, UK; and Yale Center for British Art, USA.
image: artist Barbara Walker by Chris Keenan. Courtesy the artist.