Barbara J Graham (b. 1971, Canada) is a painter currently working out of Arches Studios in Southampton. She earned a BA(Hons) in Sociology and Economics at Manchester University in 1994 before working as a TV and Film editor for twenty years.
In 2009 she began her Fine Art Foundation at Wimbledon college and went on to earn a BFA(Hons) at Wimbledon College of Art, London in 2013. In 2022 she completed
two years on the Correspondents Course with Turps Painters.
In February 2024 Barbara experienced sudden vision loss as a result of a detached retina. She had emergency surgery which saved most of her eyesight but she spend the rest of the year with a severe cataract that was finally operated on in November. She now has significantly different vision in each eye. Barbara’s work has adapted to a new way of seeing the world and her practice is dedicated to communicating this.
Barbara has been awarded a DYCP Grant from the Arts Council to explore the new direction to her work in 2025.
AWARDS
2024
Arts Council DYCP Grant: Interrupted Vision, exploring painting after eye surgery
2023
Long-listed for the Jackson’s Painting Prize
EXHIBITIONS
2025
Thick Smoke, SPUD Gallery, Sway
2024
Air of Different Temperatures, Hidden Wardrobe, Southampton
Hold On, Let Go, SPUD Gallery, Sway
BEEP Biennial, I can’t live in a world without love, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
CAS Open: Seeing Red, Andover
Material Remains, Guildhall Square, Southampton
2023
Royal Academy Summer Show, London
Eye to Pencil, an exhibition of Useful Drawings, Exmouth Market
International Women’s Day Auction, God’s House Tower, Southampton
2022
Material Presence, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
Bird Box Gallery, Cambridge
In Formation, Thames Side Studios, Greenwich
2021
The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog, Cohort.art
In Response, Nunnery Gallery, Bow
2013
Float Art, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London
Clyde and Co Awards Exhibition, St Botolph’s Building
138 Houndsditch, London
Wimbledon College of Art Degree Show, Wimbledon College of Art, London
2012
Torchlight Gallery, Pimlico, London
Reflections, Mile End Pavilion, London
EDUCATION
2020/22
Turps Painters Correspondence Course
2013
BFA(Hons) Wimbledon College of Art - Fine Art Degree in Painting
2010
Foundation in Fine Art, Wimbledon College of Art
1994
BASocSci (Hons) - Manchester University, Economics and Social Science