Barbara Walker is apprehensive of studio visits. ‘It’s like someone walking into your soul,’ she says. ‘There’s been a lot of criticism of my style during my career, so I’m protective of my working space.’ For the past five years, that space has been on the sixth floor of a factory-turned commercial unit half-way between Birmingham city centre and her home. The ring road below provides a companionable hum of traffic; far-reaching views enable her to observe ‘the rhythms of the day, the changes in light’; and a subtle coating of charcoal dust tells of a practice ‘that starts and finishes with drawing’.
Second-generation British African-Caribbean Barbara was raised in Birmingham and later studied at the University of Central England (now Birmingham City) in the 1990s. She is known for her portraits of others of African-Caribbean descent, which she describes as ‘social commentary’. She has been nominated for the Turner Prize for her series Burden of Proof, which, she explains, stems from the shock she felt when news broke in 2018 of what is now referred to as the Windrush Scandal: ‘It felt personal. I couldn’t answer then, but I knew at some point I’d say something.’ During lockdown, with the help of the journalist Amelia Gentleman, author of The Windrush Betrayal*, Barbara approached some of those who have been affected, asking if she could draw them.
Barbara works from photographs and usually sitters come to her for this; lights are set up and she directs them. With Burden of Proof, she took a different approach: ‘We went into homes and they dictated how they wanted to be shown – I was just the instrument.’ There is an extraordinary tenderness to the resulting portraits, layered over hand-drawn reproductions of identity papers. ‘I want viewers to feel empathy,’ she says, emphasising that the Windrush Scandal is not over.
Nobody has yet won the Turner Prize for drawing and even nominations for figurative art have been rare. ‘I was shocked to be named,’ says Barbara who, at the time of our visit, was preparing to install at the 2023 venue, Towner Eastbourne. She also has work included in spring shows at the National Portrait Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts, and is assembling a mid-career survey scheduled for a national institution. Reminding us that ‘the knockbacks I’ve had could have seen me disappear, had I not really believed in my art’, she is proof of the eternal worth of courage of conviction.
The Turner Prize 2023 exhibition is at Towner Eastbourne until April 14: townereastbourne.org.uk | cristearoberts.com
