Barbara Walker at Turner Contemporary

I have mentioned the work of Barbara Walker before, and there is now a chance to go and see her work in the flesh because she has a residency at Turner Contemporary in Margate. I think the way that she deals with the ephemeral and the need to give gravitas to people that are seldom given much thought is very interesting. She draws directly on the walls of the spaces that she is exhibiting within. These drawings are often simply wiped out at the end of the period of exhibition. The process of removal being as poignant as the process of construction. The people she often chooses to draw are found on the edges of society, which makes their rubbing out feel so tragic. However the fact that when she is drawing them, she gives them a monumental size helps to redress the balance. For a while at least their status is elevated and their presence made strong and unavoidable, as they step out of the margins and take a command of the gallery space. I have mentioned the conceptual possibilities inherent when making drawings with unfixed charcoal before. There is a temporality that is very fragile in an unfixed charcoal drawing, Barbara Walker is obviously very aware of this and the fact that these are in effect 'dust' drawings, and charcoal is itself a burnt stick. 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust' being perhaps the underlying poetic sensibility of these images.

This is how the gallery introduces Walker and her work.

"Place, Space and Who is a new commission by British, Birmingham-based artist Barbara Walker, which explores migration and the experiences of women living in Margate.

Walker will create a series of large-scale wall drawings directly onto the gallery walls, during a four-month residency in the space. From the 30th April 2019, visitors will be able to see the artwork evolve and grow.

Over 20 years Walker has developed a practice of drawing, painting and portraiture, often creating large-scale drawings directly onto walls. Growing up in Birmingham her experiences have directly shaped a practice concerned with class and power, gender, race, representation and belonging. Her figurative paintings and drawings are informed by the social, political and cultural realities that affect her life and the lives of those around her."

For more information see Turner Contemporary 

See also

Drawing and politics part two