Walker, Caroline

‘Nocturnes brings together recent family subjects touching on themes of women’s domestic labour, with night scenes which have been a recurring motif in my work for over a decade. Depicting everyday activities, from my daughter watching tv before dinner, to my mum seen washing dishes or taking the bins out late on a midsummer’s night, to the darkened space of a bedroom, lit only by the streetlights outside the window, where my sister in law, Lisa, feeds her baby. 

The medium of lithography offers particularly rewarding results for building up the atmosphere and rich colour needed to depict these nocturnal scenes because of the complexity of colour that can be achieved through the layering of the different plates. I’m always taken by surprise by some of the colours that are created in the process, which is so different to the way I use oil paint. It’s both exciting and challenging working out how to build up an image in this way, with just 6 or 7 colours.’ 

Caroline Walker