Scotland-born, London-based artist Caroline Walker is celebrated for her
paintings exploring the lives of women, from those living luxury
lifestyles to those fleeing oppression. In this publication, which was
produced to accompany Walker's first exhibition with Ingleby Gallery,
Edinburgh, in Fall 2020, the artist turns her attention closer to home,
presenting a series of paintings in which the focus is the artist's own
mother, Janet, as she goes about her daily tasks: cooking, cleaning,
tidying, and tending the garden of the Fife home where the artist spent
her childhood.
The publication features a newly commissioned essay and an interview
with the artist by critic and author Hettie Judah. The essay opens by
comparing Walker's works to the Dutch Golden Age, encouraging
consideration of everyday domestic scenes. Judah then leads the reader
through Walker's latest series of works, exploring the daily routines
and household chores that have filled Walker's mother's days for the
past forty years, along with the artist's treatment of these activities.
Judah deftly locates this latest body of work within Walker's wider
practice, opening up discussion of women at work in different industries
and notions of invisibility. She asserts: "While Janet extends
Walker's long-held interest in women's work, the series is also a loving
undertaking. The artist offers us her mother with great pride, both in
particular, and on behalf of other mothers overlooked and working out of
sight." The interview offers further insight into Walker's thoughts in
relation to the "Janet" series, and to the working processes behind
it.
The publication features around eighty illustrations of the preparatory
studies and paintings that comprise this new body of work. It has been
designed by Joanna Deans, Identity, with photography by Peter Mallet.
The publication was produced by Ingleby, Edinburgh, and printed by Die
Keure, Bruges. It was co-published in 2020 by Ingleby and Anomie
Publishing, London, in an edition of 1500 copies.
