Barbara Walker: Vanishing Point

Barbara Walker: Vanishing Point confronts the issues of race and representation in art from the Old Masters through the present day.

The artist has selected two paintings from the collection of the National Gallery, London that are displayed alongside her own drawings in order to highlight cultural differences in historic and contemporary societies. The Banquet of Cleopatra by Tiepolo and A Homage to Velázquez by Giordano both feature Black figures.

Walker’s work depicts subjects who are often cast as minorities, inviting the viewer to look beyond the anonymising act of categorising or classifying citizens. Her pictures make visible the lives of others, and address the allusions associated with the labels conferred upon people by society. By exhibiting the National Gallery loans with her own drawings of Black Subjects, Walker is showing these historic works in a fresh context, drawing attention to the figures that are usually overlooked.

The exhibition runs until 6 January 2019. For more information visit the Jerwood Gallery.

Barbara Walker, Vanishing Point 6 (Breenburgh), graphite on embossed Somerset Satin paper, (2018) © The Artist.