Caroline Walker

Early Years

- a co-publication between Paupers Press & Enitharmon Editions

‘Early Years’ brings my interest in nurseries as a subject for painting into the language of printmaking with my first set of etchings. Early Years is a term used to describe children’s developmental provision in the years before they start school. It’s a period in which young children learn about the world around them -how to feed and dress themselves, speak and understand language and build relationships with others. Each etching depicts a scene of nurture with a paired back palette of colours allowing me to enjoy the quality of line that etching offers. ‘Spoon Fed’ depicts my own daughter eating lunch as a 2 year old, ‘Comforted’ and ‘Prepared’ show children in the forest setting of the outdoor nursery both my children have attended, and in ‘Settled’ the little girl at the centre of the image looks back directly, interested in my presence there documenting these acts of care which are most often out of sight. 

About Caroline Walker

Caroline Walker is a contemporary Scottish painter known for representing the everyday lives of women and highlighting the sites of their domestic and affective labour.

While her early work was highly staged, the result of elaborate photoshoots with models at hired locations, since 2017 Walker has developed a more documentary approach to image-making, reflecting on the diverse social, cultural and economic experiences of women living in contemporary society.   

Her paintings often depict women at work - in beauty salons, hotels, kitchens, hospitals, and homes - capturing solitary moments of care. The compositions, drawn from her own photography, use architectural framing and light to evoke a voyeuristic yet empathetic view of each subject. 

‘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.’

Past notable solo institutional exhibitions include those at The Hepworth Wakefield, UK (2025); Fitzrovia Chapel, London, UK (2022); K11, Shanghai, China (2022); KM21, The Hague, The Netherlands (2021); Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, England (2021) and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, England (2018). Walker’s work is also represented in major public collections including Tate, UK; National Galleries of Scotland, UK; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.