EDUCATION
MA Drawing, 2018 | UAL Wimbledon College of Art
(UAL) Art and Design Foundation, 2015 | City Literary Institute
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice, 1994 | University of Westminster
MA Drawing, 2018 | UAL Wimbledon College of Art
(UAL) Art and Design Foundation, 2015 | City Literary Institute
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice, 1994 | University of Westminster
ADDITIONAL TRAINING
Discovering Voices, ICA Cultural Leadership Programme, 2008 | Institute of Contemporary Art
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Sloane Lab Fellowship: to undertake research connected to the herbal healing traditions of the transatlantic Caribbean. Six months part time ending July 2024.
Honorary Fellow Royal West of England Academy (RWA)
Shortlisted awardee 198 Gallery Women of Colour Award, 2020
Shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, 2019
Discovering Voices, ICA Cultural Leadership Programme, 2008 | Institute of Contemporary Art
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Sloane Lab Fellowship: to undertake research connected to the herbal healing traditions of the transatlantic Caribbean. Six months part time ending July 2024.
Honorary Fellow Royal West of England Academy (RWA)
Shortlisted awardee 198 Gallery Women of Colour Award, 2020
Shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, 2019
EXHIBITIONS CURRENT AND UPCOMING:
Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights
19 September - 27 April 2025
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
‘Hard Graft’ will centre on three places of work: The Plantation, The Street and The Home. Each a distinct location for often hard, physical labour, where conditions may be precarious or unsafe, and workers have little or no access to healthcare, a stable income, or basic rights. From sex work to street vending, and domestic work to prison labour, the exhibition will highlight how unregulated and stigmatised work practices have reinforced healthcare inequalities throughout history – and continue to do so today.
Contemporary artworks by artists on display include: Turner prize-winner Lubaina Himid, Adelita Husni Bey, Charmaine Watkiss, Vivian Caccuri, Forensic Architecture, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Shannon Alonzo, Daniela Ortiz and with new commissions by Lindsey Mendick and Moi Tran.
Find out more here
19 September - 27 April 2025
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
‘Hard Graft’ will centre on three places of work: The Plantation, The Street and The Home. Each a distinct location for often hard, physical labour, where conditions may be precarious or unsafe, and workers have little or no access to healthcare, a stable income, or basic rights. From sex work to street vending, and domestic work to prison labour, the exhibition will highlight how unregulated and stigmatised work practices have reinforced healthcare inequalities throughout history – and continue to do so today.
Contemporary artworks by artists on display include: Turner prize-winner Lubaina Himid, Adelita Husni Bey, Charmaine Watkiss, Vivian Caccuri, Forensic Architecture, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Shannon Alonzo, Daniela Ortiz and with new commissions by Lindsey Mendick and Moi Tran.
Find out more here
Earthbound
15 November - 8 June 2025
New Art Gallery, Walsall
15 November - 8 June 2025
New Art Gallery, Walsall
Artists: Jodie Carey, General Public with Grace Emily Manning and Mud Club, Tania Kovats, Otobong Nkanga, Sally Payen, Yinka Shonibare, Charmaine Watkiss, Laura White.
Find out more here
Find out more here
Spirit in the land
09 November - 09 February 2025
829 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida USA
09 November - 09 February 2025
829 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, Florida USA
Spirit in the Land is a contemporary art exhibition that examines today’s urgent ecological concerns from a cultural perspective, demonstrating how intricately our identities and natural environments are intertwined. Through their artwork, thirty artists show us how rooted in the earth our most cherished cultural traditions are, how our relationship to land and water shapes us as individuals and communities. The works reflect the restorative potential of our connection to nature and exemplify how essential both biodiversity and cultural diversity are to our survival.
Artists: Terry Adkins, Firelei Báez, Radcliffe Bailey, Rina Banerjee, Christi Belcourt, María Berrío, Mel Chin, Andrea Chung, Sonya Clark, Maia Cruz Palileo, Annalee Davis, Tamika Galanis, Allison Janae Hamilton, Barkley L. Hendricks, Alexa Kleinbard, Hung Liu, Hew Locke, Meryl McMaster, Wangechi Mutu, Dario Robleto, Jim Roche, Kathleen Ryan, Sheldon Scott, Renée Stout, Monique Verdin, Stacy Lynn Waddell, Charmaine Watkiss, Marie Watt, Carrie Mae Weems, Peter Williams.
Find out more here
Find out more here
PAST SOLO SHOWS:
2024 - Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy | Abbot Hall Museum, Kirkland, Kendal
2022 - Charmaine Watkiss: The Wisdom Tree | Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds
2021 - The Seed Keepers | Tiwani Contemporary, Cromwell Place, London
2024 - Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy | Abbot Hall Museum, Kirkland, Kendal
2022 - Charmaine Watkiss: The Wisdom Tree | Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds
2021 - The Seed Keepers | Tiwani Contemporary, Cromwell Place, London
SELECT PAST GROUP SHOWS
2024 - Reverb | Stephen Friedman Gallery London
2024 - Allegory | Royal West of England Academy (RWA), Bristol
2024 - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy of Art, Burlington Gardens
2024 - Drawing Attention | Hartlepool Art Gallery
2024 - Spirit in the Land | Perez Museum Miami
2024 - Drawing Room Biennial | Tannery Way, Bermondsey, London
2024 - In Praise of Black Errantry | Palazzo Pisani S. Marina, Venice
2024 - Drawing Attention | Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Litchfield Street, Wolverhampton
2023 - 1-54 Presents Transatlantic Connections: Caribbean Narratives in Contemporary Art Curated by caryl* ivrisse crochemar & [creative renegades society] | Christies London
2023 - Liverpool Biennial - uMoya: The sacred return of lost things | Khanyisile Mbongwa
2023 - O Quilombismo | Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany
2023 - Spirt in the Land | Nasher Museum at Duke University, USA
2023 - Your Presence Does Not Escape Me: Charmaine Watkiss, Delita Martin, Tessa Mars
2022 - Drawing Attention: emerging British Artists | British Museum, London
2022 - The Company She Keeps | Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, Nigeria
2024 - Reverb | Stephen Friedman Gallery London
2024 - Allegory | Royal West of England Academy (RWA), Bristol
2024 - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition | Royal Academy of Art, Burlington Gardens
2024 - Drawing Attention | Hartlepool Art Gallery
2024 - Spirit in the Land | Perez Museum Miami
2024 - Drawing Room Biennial | Tannery Way, Bermondsey, London
2024 - In Praise of Black Errantry | Palazzo Pisani S. Marina, Venice
2024 - Drawing Attention | Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Litchfield Street, Wolverhampton
2023 - 1-54 Presents Transatlantic Connections: Caribbean Narratives in Contemporary Art Curated by caryl* ivrisse crochemar & [creative renegades society] | Christies London
2023 - Liverpool Biennial - uMoya: The sacred return of lost things | Khanyisile Mbongwa
2023 - O Quilombismo | Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany
2023 - Spirt in the Land | Nasher Museum at Duke University, USA
2023 - Your Presence Does Not Escape Me: Charmaine Watkiss, Delita Martin, Tessa Mars
2022 - Drawing Attention: emerging British Artists | British Museum, London
2022 - The Company She Keeps | Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, Nigeria
2021 - RA Summer Exhibition | 6 Burlington Gardens, London
2021 - To The Edge of Time | KU Leuven Libraries, Leuven, Belgium
2021 - Breakfast Under the Tree - Curated by Russel Tovey | Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
2021 - Drawing Biennial 2021 | Drawing Room, 1-27 Rodney Place, London SE17 1PP
2020 - The Abstract Truth of Things | Tiwani Contemporary Gallery, London W1W 8PB
2020 - Me, Myself and I | Collyer Bristow Gallery, London WC1R 4TF
2020 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | The Gallery, De Montford University, Leicester
2020 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | 66 Orchard Place, London E14 OJY
2019 - Thinking Graphite | Drawing Projects UK, 10 Stallard Street, Wiltshire, BA14
2019 - Figure This! | Thames Side Studios Gallery, Woolwich, London SE18 5NR
2019 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire
2019 - Out of Darkness | St John on Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA
2018 - Wimbledon College of Art MA Degree Show | Merton Hall, Wimbledon, SW19 3QA
2018 - Against Static (Curated by Tania Kovats) | Wimbledon Space, Wimbledon, SW19 3QA
2018 - Lumen Residency Exhibition | Crypt Gallery, Euston Rd, London NW1 2BA
2017 - New Perspectives | The Centre for Recent Drawing, London N1 1SB
2017 - She Says | Nolia's Gallery, 60 Great Suffolk St, Bankside, London SE1 0B
2017 - Same Difference | The ArtSpace, Cass Art 103 Clarence St, Kingston upon Thames KT1
2017 - East Wing Collective Group Show | Menier Gallery 51 Southwark St, London SE1 1RU
2016 - Art At The Bridge #7 | Tower Bridge Engine Rooms, Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1
COLLECTIONS
The British Museum, London, UK
Leeds Art Gallery, UK
The Government Art Collection, UK
Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, UK
Abbot Hall Museum, Kendal, UK
Nasher Museum at Duke University USA
Holburne Museum Bath, UK
Lincoln Museum Lincoln, UK
Katrin Bellinger Collection, UK
Harry David Art Collection
International private collections
RESIDENCIES
Spring 2022 edition at Launch Pad LaB residency at La Boissière South West France. I was in residence with Laura Pold, we were co-selected by Nathan Ladd, Curator at Tate, with a focus on practices that address ecology and the natural environment. (I have posted a film about the residency in the MEDIA section of this website)
Click here to find out about Launch Pad
Lumen Residency, Atina, Italy, 3 - 17 August 2017
WRITING
Carving out meaning - I wrote an article for British Museum Spring / Summer '22 magazine about an object in their collection, you can read it here
PUBLICATIONS
Crafted Kinship, 2024; Malene Barnett - Hachette ISBN-13: 9781648290992
FUKT Magazine, 2024; #22 The Nature Issue ISBN 978-3-9820098-5-8
Spirit in the Land, 2023; Trevor Schoonmaker - Duke University Press ISBN: 9780938989455
Big Bang Imagining The Universe, 2021, Hannibal Books ISBN: 9789463887878
Vitamin D3: Today's Best in Contemporary Drawing, 2021, Phaidon ISBN: 9781838661694
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Catalogue, 2019, edited by Anita Taylor ISBN 978-1-9999936-1-0
ARTICLES
Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy - Review - Corridor8 - Read here
"A tapestry of new possibilities..." Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy reviewed - Read here
The Winds of Past and Present (Liverpool Biennial) - Artists Responding To magazine - Read here
Women artists shaping British art, writen by Shasti Lowton, Read here
Review of The Wisdom Tree, written by The Double Negative Magazine, Read here
Artlyst interview of the month written by Paul Carey-Kent, Read here.
Contemporary Art Society article about my acquisition for Abbot Hall, Read Here
The Seed Keepers, commissioned article by Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Read here
Frieze - Charmaine Watkiss on reconstructing the image of black womanhood, Read here
Elephant Magazine pick of October '21 essential artists, Read here
Phaidon Article - Charmaine Watkiss Why I Draw, Read here
Eye On Art Review The Abstract Truth of Things, Read here
An exploration of the Abstract Truth of Things, Aurella Yussuf - Read here
Frieze review, The Abstract Truth of Things, Aida Amoako - Read here
IN CONVERSATION (online)
BBC Radio 3: Free Thinking - Liverpool Biennial with Melanie Manchot and Judy Loewe Listen here
TALK ART PODCAST - With Russell Tovey and Robert Diament - Listen here
THE SHOWROOM PRESENTS IN.FLO.RES.CENCE - Andrew Pierre Hart, Charmaine Watkiss, Nduduzo Makhathini & Katherine Finerty - Watch here
TALKS AND SEMINARS
2024 - In conversation with Isabel Seligman, curator British Museum | Abbot Hall Museum
2023 - Circumnavigation: Drawing Symposium | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
2022 - Charmaine Watkiss & Rommi Smith in conversation | Leeds Art Gallery
2022 - Panelist - Art at the Intersection: Culture, Identity, Mental Health | National Gallery, London
2019 - Figure This! - Panel discussion around socio political ideas embodied in figurative work
2019 - Speaker at Why Drawing Matters conference, Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire.
2018 - I Am the Person I Know Best: Conversations Within Black Women's Art (Artist talk) |
The V&A Museum, London - Click here for more information.
2017 - An Evening with John Blanke (Artist talk) | The British Library, Euston Road, London
2017 - Alev Lenz Studio: Panel Discussion & Workshop (Panel discussion exploring BME representation in the creative industries) | Alev Lenz Studio, London
2021 - To The Edge of Time | KU Leuven Libraries, Leuven, Belgium
2021 - Breakfast Under the Tree - Curated by Russel Tovey | Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
2021 - Drawing Biennial 2021 | Drawing Room, 1-27 Rodney Place, London SE17 1PP
2020 - The Abstract Truth of Things | Tiwani Contemporary Gallery, London W1W 8PB
2020 - Me, Myself and I | Collyer Bristow Gallery, London WC1R 4TF
2020 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | The Gallery, De Montford University, Leicester
2020 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | 66 Orchard Place, London E14 OJY
2019 - Thinking Graphite | Drawing Projects UK, 10 Stallard Street, Wiltshire, BA14
2019 - Figure This! | Thames Side Studios Gallery, Woolwich, London SE18 5NR
2019 - Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire
2019 - Out of Darkness | St John on Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA
2018 - Wimbledon College of Art MA Degree Show | Merton Hall, Wimbledon, SW19 3QA
2018 - Against Static (Curated by Tania Kovats) | Wimbledon Space, Wimbledon, SW19 3QA
2018 - Lumen Residency Exhibition | Crypt Gallery, Euston Rd, London NW1 2BA
2017 - New Perspectives | The Centre for Recent Drawing, London N1 1SB
2017 - She Says | Nolia's Gallery, 60 Great Suffolk St, Bankside, London SE1 0B
2017 - Same Difference | The ArtSpace, Cass Art 103 Clarence St, Kingston upon Thames KT1
2017 - East Wing Collective Group Show | Menier Gallery 51 Southwark St, London SE1 1RU
2016 - Art At The Bridge #7 | Tower Bridge Engine Rooms, Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1
COLLECTIONS
The British Museum, London, UK
Leeds Art Gallery, UK
The Government Art Collection, UK
Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, UK
Abbot Hall Museum, Kendal, UK
Nasher Museum at Duke University USA
Holburne Museum Bath, UK
Lincoln Museum Lincoln, UK
Katrin Bellinger Collection, UK
Harry David Art Collection
International private collections
RESIDENCIES
Spring 2022 edition at Launch Pad LaB residency at La Boissière South West France. I was in residence with Laura Pold, we were co-selected by Nathan Ladd, Curator at Tate, with a focus on practices that address ecology and the natural environment. (I have posted a film about the residency in the MEDIA section of this website)
Click here to find out about Launch Pad
Lumen Residency, Atina, Italy, 3 - 17 August 2017
WRITING
Carving out meaning - I wrote an article for British Museum Spring / Summer '22 magazine about an object in their collection, you can read it here
PUBLICATIONS
Crafted Kinship, 2024; Malene Barnett - Hachette ISBN-13: 9781648290992
FUKT Magazine, 2024; #22 The Nature Issue ISBN 978-3-9820098-5-8
Spirit in the Land, 2023; Trevor Schoonmaker - Duke University Press ISBN: 9780938989455
Big Bang Imagining The Universe, 2021, Hannibal Books ISBN: 9789463887878
Vitamin D3: Today's Best in Contemporary Drawing, 2021, Phaidon ISBN: 9781838661694
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Catalogue, 2019, edited by Anita Taylor ISBN 978-1-9999936-1-0
ARTICLES
Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy - Review - Corridor8 - Read here
"A tapestry of new possibilities..." Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy reviewed - Read here
The Winds of Past and Present (Liverpool Biennial) - Artists Responding To magazine - Read here
Women artists shaping British art, writen by Shasti Lowton, Read here
Review of The Wisdom Tree, written by The Double Negative Magazine, Read here
Artlyst interview of the month written by Paul Carey-Kent, Read here.
Contemporary Art Society article about my acquisition for Abbot Hall, Read Here
The Seed Keepers, commissioned article by Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Read here
Frieze - Charmaine Watkiss on reconstructing the image of black womanhood, Read here
Elephant Magazine pick of October '21 essential artists, Read here
Phaidon Article - Charmaine Watkiss Why I Draw, Read here
Eye On Art Review The Abstract Truth of Things, Read here
An exploration of the Abstract Truth of Things, Aurella Yussuf - Read here
Frieze review, The Abstract Truth of Things, Aida Amoako - Read here
IN CONVERSATION (online)
BBC Radio 3: Free Thinking - Liverpool Biennial with Melanie Manchot and Judy Loewe Listen here
TALK ART PODCAST - With Russell Tovey and Robert Diament - Listen here
THE SHOWROOM PRESENTS IN.FLO.RES.CENCE - Andrew Pierre Hart, Charmaine Watkiss, Nduduzo Makhathini & Katherine Finerty - Watch here
TALKS AND SEMINARS
2024 - In conversation with Isabel Seligman, curator British Museum | Abbot Hall Museum
2023 - Circumnavigation: Drawing Symposium | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
2022 - Charmaine Watkiss & Rommi Smith in conversation | Leeds Art Gallery
2022 - Panelist - Art at the Intersection: Culture, Identity, Mental Health | National Gallery, London
2019 - Figure This! - Panel discussion around socio political ideas embodied in figurative work
2019 - Speaker at Why Drawing Matters conference, Salisbury Museum, Wiltshire.
2018 - I Am the Person I Know Best: Conversations Within Black Women's Art (Artist talk) |
The V&A Museum, London - Click here for more information.
2017 - An Evening with John Blanke (Artist talk) | The British Library, Euston Road, London
2017 - Alev Lenz Studio: Panel Discussion & Workshop (Panel discussion exploring BME representation in the creative industries) | Alev Lenz Studio, London