"Barbara is somebody that has pursued what she was compelled to make as an artist," says Bill Valerio, Director and CEO of the Woodmere Art Museum.
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The exhibition is a retrospective.
"It's a trajectory that takes us through the lived experience," he says.
And it taps into issues of Black identity.
"When you talk about social justice - it's in the work," says Bullock.
"There are 75 to 80 works in the show," says Valerio.
Visitors can see Bullock's growth through different periods of her life.
"Barbara starts off as an artist who's painting dancers inside of the four edges of a rectangular frame, and over time, she breaks out of the rectangle; she starts making collages," he says.
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"Everything that I do is going to be about what I know and what I've seen," says Bullock. "Because that's your life, that's what you're going to do, regardless of what anyone says."
Bullock made pieces to reflect how she felt during challenging times.
Valerio says Bullock made the works in the Healer Series in the context of the AIDS crisis.
In Bullock's Katrina Series, she says she was creating "turmoil."
A more recent work of hers is called "Trayvon Martin, Most Precious Blood."
"I worked on that really emotionally," she says.
"And it's a work that really has an impact on people," says Valerio.
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"I really felt so strongly about what was happening to all of my people," says Bullock.
"Our job is to share art with people, and to share art that will mean something in people's lives," says Valerio.
Barbara Bullock: Fearless Vision is on view through January 21 at the Woodmere Art Museum.
Barbara Bullock: Fearless Vision | Tickets
Woodmere Art Museum
9201 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118