Caroline Walker: Mothering

Few artists are as attentive to the details and textures of 21st-century life as Caroline Walker. That she focuses on the lives of women makes her work no less universal: her paintings capture familiar domestic scenes, such as grandmothers helping infants with arts and crafts, as well as places of work, from hospital operating theatres to glassy corporate offices. Though her compositions often resemble family photographs, these are painterly creations: the brushwork is careful as well as abundant. This exhibition contains work from the last five years, focusing on the theme of motherhood and demonstrating that what might appear to be forms of distance – women glimpsed through windows and door frames, from inside or outside homes – are in fact acts of tender and respectful observation (17 May–27 October).

Find out more from the Hepworth Wakefield’s website.
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Sticker Dolly Dressing (2024), Caroline Walker. Photo: Peter Mallet; courtesy the artist/Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam/New York/London/Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh/Stephen Friedman Gallery, London/New York; © Caroline Walker

Theatre (2021), Caroline Walker. Photo: Peter Mallett; courtesy the artist/Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam/New York/London/Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh/Stephen Friedman Gallery, London/New York; © Caroline Walker

My Bottles and Pumps (2024), Caroline Walker. Photo: Peter Mallet; courtesy the artist/Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam/New York/London/Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh/Stephen Friedman Gallery, London/New York; © Caroline Walker