Caroline Walker: Mothering

‘The subject of my paintings in its broadest sense is women’s experience, whether that is the imagined interior life of a glimpsed shop worker, a closely observed portrayal of my mother working in the family home, or women I’ve had the privilege of spending time with, in their place of work. From the anonymous to the highly personal, what links all these subjects is an investigation of an experience which is specifically female.’

– Caroline Walker

Caroline Walker (b.1982, Dunfermline) studied painting at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, and is known for her accomplished paintings which offer a lens into the everyday lives of women.

Through her large canvases, intimate panels and ink sketches, she portrays diverse female subjects in settings that blur the boundaries between public and private. Her works reveal the complex social, cultural and economic experiences of women living in contemporary society. The exhibition will bring together works made over the past five years with new paintings exploring themes of motherhood and early-years care.

Caroline Walker: Mothering is accompanied by an illustrated monograph of the same title, published by Lund Humphries in September 2025. The exhibition will travel to Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, from 22 November 2025 – 10 May 2026.

About The Hepworth Wakefield 

The Hepworth Wakefield is an award-winning art gallery in the heart of Yorkshire (UK), named after Barbara Hepworth, one of the most important artists of the 20th century who was born and brought up in Wakefield. Designed by the acclaimed David Chipperfield Architects, the gallery has continued to present major exhibitions of the best international modern and contemporary art since its opening in 2011.

About the Artist

Caroline Walker was born in 1982 in Dunfermline, Scotland (UK) where she now lives and works again. Walker received a BA in Painting from Glasgow School of Art in 2004 and an MA in Painting from The Royal College of Art in 2009.

Recent solo exhibitions include: The Holiday Park, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Nurture, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (UK); Women Observed, K11, Shanghai (CN); Lisa, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (UK); A Female Gaze, Nottingham Castle, Nottingham (UK); Caroline Walker: Birth Reflections, The Fitzrovia Chapel, London (UK); Windows, KM21, Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Women's Work, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham (UK); Nearby, GRIMM, New York, NY (US). 

Selected group exhibitions include: Good Mom/Bad Mom – Unraveling the Mother Myth, Centraal Museum, Utrecht (NL); Mama: From Mary to Merkel, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (DE); Beyond these Walls, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Works on Paper – Women Artists, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen (UK); A Room Hung With Thoughts: British Painting Now, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX (US) and Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Hayward Gallery Touring, Bristol; Birmingham; Sheffield; Dundee (UK).

Walker is represented in a number of major public collections including: Aberdeen Art Gallery (UK); Aïshti Foundation (LB); Art Gallery of New South Wales (AU); Arts Council of England (UK); The British Museum (UK); Dallas Museum of Art (US); He Art Museum (CN); The Hepworth Wakefield (UK); High Museum of Art (US); Huamao Beijing Foundation (CN); The Hunterian (UK); Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (US); Kistefos Museum (NO); Kunstmuseum The Hague (NL); Museum of Fine Arts Houston (US); Museum Voorlinden (NL); National Galleries of Scotland (UK); National Museum of Wales (UK); The National Museum of Women in the Arts (US); The Parliamentary Art Collection (UK); Pallant House Gallery (UK); Pérez Art Museum (US); The Rachofsky Collection (US); Sifang Art Museum (CN); Tate (UK); The UK Government Art Collection (UK); The University of Cambridge (UK); University of Warwick (UK); and Yale University Art Gallery (US).

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