Caroline Walker - Women's Work

Directed by Nicola Black

We follow the internationally renowned Scottish artist Caroline Walker over four years as she makes large-scale paintings representing the unseen, often undervalued, aspects of women’s labour - from hospitals to hotels, nail bars to nursery settings. Walker’s paintings reveal the invisible labour that shapes women’s lives, from housework to caregiving to creative production. Weaving together footage from Walker’s studio, her family life and interviews with the female subjects of her paintings, we question the role that art can play in depicting the social politics of reproductive labour, nurture and care for the next generation. Following Walker through pregnancy and the birth of her second child, we explore her role of the ‘artist mother’. Through privileged access to the artist’s life and work, the film reveals how motherhood has shaped Walker’s approach, while acknowledging the importance of her own mother, Janet, in inspiring and supporting her creativity.