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Past exhibition
Curated by Renée Mussai and Bindi Vora
Reintroducing a pioneering artist whose practice focused on representations of black womanhood - using photography to interrogate the intricacies of skin, blackness and being
Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK
Reintroducing a pioneering artist whose practice focused on representations of black womanhood, Maxine Walker: Untitled is a poignant exploration of identity by a young artist at the height of her career - using photography to interrogate the intricacies of skin, blackness and being. Active between 1985 - 1997, this is Maxine Walker’s first solo exhibition in more than twenty-two years.
In her seminal series of self portraits Untitled (1997), Walker draws our attention to the features of her face in closely-cropped black and white photographs. The sequence of ten portraits share a charged visual journey as she seemingly peels away layers of her surface skin, conjuring a narrative that is more sinister than playful, intimating that her blackness cannot - and must not - be stripped away. Magnifying the delicacy of her skin, we are invited to consider complex notions of beauty, masquerade, and vulnerability.
This exhibition is part of Autograph’s ongoing commitment to curate and preserve the legacy of important practitioners such as Walker, and to ensure that her significant contribution to the cultural history of photography is recognised. Deeply invested in creating dialogues that advocated black art practices in Britain, Walker was an influential artist and instrumental in co-founding platforms to give expression to black female photographers – including Monocrone Women’s Photography Collective, Women + Photography and Polareyes.
Material from Autograph’s archive will be exhibited for the first time, including the original contact sheets from Walker’s photo booth styled self portraits (1995). In these colour works, Walker transforms herself into a myriad of characters. Vintage artist prints from Black Beauty (1991) and The Bride (1989) will be on display, alongside the magazines Walker co-founded, edited and wrote for. Ephemera from her exhibitions across the UK chart the extent of her prolific career.
Maxine Walker: Untitled is based on Autograph’s 1997 publication of Walker’s work commissioned and edited by Mark Sealy, part of our now-rare series of monographs dedicated to black photographic practice.
Walker resides in Handsworth, Birmingham.
British-Jamaican photographer Maxine Walker disrupts the idea of an approved womanhood
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Gallery 2
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Untitled
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From the series The Bride
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Her from the series Black Beauty
Deeply invested in dialogues that advocated black art practices in Britain, Maxine Walker (b.1962, Birmingham, England) was active within the photographic community between 1985 and 1997.
As a pioneering artist, she was instrumental in cofounding several creative platforms for black female photographers – such as Monocrone Women’s Photography Collective, Women + Photography
and Polareyes – and participated on editorial boards, including at Autograph (then known as the Association of Black Photographers).
During this time, Walker regularly reviewed exhibitions and wrote features highlighting the work of her peers: international artists like Joy Gregory, Adrian Piper and Ingrid Pollard.
She was artist-in-residence at Light Work, Syracuse, NY, in 1991.
Walker’s main themes, in her own words, ‘involve the black woman and the family worked in a “pot-pourri” of studio, portraiture and documentary.’
Her work has been exhibited across a diverse range of national institutions and galleries globally, including South London Gallery; Jamaica Arts Centre, New York; Impressions Gallery, Bradford; and The Photographers’ Gallery, London. Her photography has featured within group exhibitions such as Self-Evident (1995, Ikon Gallery) and Shifting Terrains (1997, Zone Gallery, Newcastle), both organised in partnership with Autograph; other exhibitions include Through the Looking Glass: Photographic Art in Britain 1945-1986 (1989, Barbican, London); and Decent Exposure (1989, Central Library, Birmingham).
Her works are represented in private and public collections such as The Scottish Arts Council Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Autograph, London.
She studied at West Surrey College of Art & Design (now University of Creative Arts).
Tue 30 July 2019
Four spoken word artists capture different experiences of navigating a city’s architecture
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You can take the survey here. Thank you!
All vintage material on display from Autograph’s archive collection of photography. Ephemera from Intimate Distance (1989) courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery, London.
Maxine Walker and Autograph would like to thank: Derek Bishton, Vanley Burke, Claudette Holmes, Joy Gregory, Denise Walker, and Ella Yvonne Delores Walker Cole.
Banner image: Maxine Walker, Untitled, 1997. Courtesy of the artist and Autograph, London.
Exhibition preview: 1) Maxine Walker: Untitled at Autograph, London. Photograph by Zoë Maxwell. 2) Maxine Walker, Untitled, 1997. Courtesy of the artist and Autograph, London. 3) Maxine Walker, from the series The Bride, 1989. Courtesy of the artist and Autograph, London 4) Maxine Walker, Her. From the series Black Beauty, 1991. Courtesy of the artist and Autograph, London
Other images: 1) Maxine Walker at her exhibition at Autograph, London. Photograph by Zoë Maxwell.
Autograph is a place to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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