Maxine Walker (born 1962) is a British-Jamaican photographer and critic. Based in Handsworth and active between 1985 and 1997, Walker has been described by Rianna Jade Parker as "a force within the Black British Art movement". Her photographs emphasise the fictive nature of documentary convention, and "raise questions about the nature of

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

, challenging

racial stereotypes An ethnic stereotype or racial stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype does the same for a given nation ...

Life

Maxine Walker was born in 1962 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. Walker's 1987 series ''Auntie Lindie's House'' challenged the unmediated nature of

documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional ph ...

, replicating photographic conventions within a fictional context. ''Black Beauty'', a 1980s series, and ''Untitled'', a series for the 1995 '' Self Evident'' exhibition, both consisted of self-portraits. ''Untitled'' contained a sequence of ten closely-cropped black and white photographs, in which Walker appeared to peel away successive layers of her surface skin. Walker has written various reviews and texts for art magazines and exhibition-related publication. After ''Polareyes'', a 1987 exhibition of black women photographers at the

Camden Arts Centre Camden Art Centre (known as Hampstead Arts Centre until 1967 and Camden Arts Centre until 2020) is a contemporary art gallery in the London Borough of Camden, England. It hosts temporary exhibitions and educational outreach projects, with a prog ...

, she co-edited and contributed to a short-lived journal of the same name. In 1999 she published a short

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind o ...

in the series published by Autograph.

Works

Exhibitions

* ''Polareyes: Black Women Photographers'',

, 1987. With

Brenda Agard Brenda Patricia Agard (20 August 1961 – 29 October 2012) was a Black-British photographer, artist, poet and storyteller who was most active in the 1980s, when she participated in some of the first art exhibitions organized by Black-British ar ...

, Margaret Andrews,

Zarina Bhimji Zarina Bhimji (born 1963) is a Ugandan Indian photographer, based in London. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2007, exhibited at Documenta 11 in 2002, and is represented in the public collections of Tate, the Museum of Contemporary Ar ...

, Similola Coker, Joy Gregory, Rhona Harritte, Joy Kahumbu, Mumtaz Karimjee, Linda King, Jenny Mckenzie,

Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017, she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in t ...

, Amina Patel, Ingrid Pollard, Samena Rana, Molly Shinhat, Sharon Wallace, Geraldine Walsh, Gloria Walsh, and Halina Zajac. * ''Intimate Distance: Five Female Artists'',

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established ...

, 1989. With Zarina Bhimji,

Sutapa Biswas Sutapa Biswas (born 28 November 1962) is a British Indian conceptual artist, who works across a range of media including painting, drawing, film and time-based media. Early life She was born in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India, in 1962. At the ...

Mona Hatoum Mona Hatoum (; born 1952) is a Palestinians, British-Palestinian multimedia and installation artist who lives in London. Biography Mona Hatoum was born in 1952 in Beirut, Lebanon, to State of Palestine, Palestinian parents. Although born in Leba ...

and Ingrid Pollard. * ''Self Evident'', Ikon Gallery, August–September 1995. With

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. He is both the record appearance holder and scorer of the Ma ...

, Mama Casset,

Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé (born 1963) is a Nigerian-born British artist and scientist known for his Unmasking series which innovated with early 3D technology in the 1990s. A founding member of the Street Level Gallery in Glasgow and curator ...

and Ingrid Pollard. Curated by

Mark Sealy Mark Sealy (born 1960) is a British curator and cultural historian with a special interest in the relationship of photography to social change, identity politics and human rights. In 1991 he became the director of Autograph ABP, the Associati ...

. * (solo) UNTITLED, Autograph ABP, April–August 2019. Curated by Renée Mussai and Bindi Vora. * (solo) UNTITLED,

Midlands Arts Centre MAC (stylized as mac; formerly and legally Midlands Arts Centre) is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which hosts art e ...

, April–June 2020.

Writing

* * * * * 'Intimate Distance', in *

References

External links