Caroline Walker’s paintings focus on female subjects from a female perspective, subtly subverting the art historical idea of the male gaze. Her protagonists are women at work, as she explores their often-hidden labour within domestic or professional settings. In Conditioning, the viewer is positioned outside a large salon window, looking in to observe a quiet and intimate moment shared by the two women inside as one prepares to cut the other’s hair. The painting captures the serenity of the everyday moments we rarely stop to think about, while also celebrating the kind of service roles that are overwhelmingly occupied by women.