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, 2024 cohort. My subject:
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, 2024 cohort. My subject:
Investigating ancestral cures: herbs and healing traditions of the transatlantic Caribbean
I spent 6 months part time with the Natural History Museum and the British Museum looking at Hans Sloane's Vegetable substances. For the outcome I created a sculptural work which is on permanent display in the 'Sloane Case' at the British Museum's Enlightenment Gallery, London.
Invited Academician Royal West of England Academy (RWA)I spent 6 months part time with the Natural History Museum and the British Museum looking at Hans Sloane's Vegetable substances. For the outcome I created a sculptural work which is on permanent display in the 'Sloane Case' at the British Museum's Enlightenment Gallery, London.
Shortlisted awardee 198 Gallery Women of Colour Award, 2020
Shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, 2019
EXHIBITIONS CURRENT AND UPCOMING:
The things we hold sacred (solo show)
13 October 26 – 11 April 27
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Gallery Square
Walsall
WS2 8LG
The things we hold sacred (solo show)
13 October 26 – 11 April 27
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Gallery Square
Walsall
WS2 8LG
Edge: where land meets the sea
26 September - 03 January 2027
Hastings Contemporary
Rock-a-Nore Road
Hastings TN34 3DW
26 September - 03 January 2027
Hastings Contemporary
Rock-a-Nore Road
Hastings TN34 3DW
Featured artists: Aimée Parrott, Andrew Merritt, Andy Goldsworthy, Anya Gallaccio, Cedric Morris, Charmaine Watkiss, Cornelia Parker, David Nash, Duncan Grant, Emma Tennant, France Bourély, Frances Kearney, George Rouy, Gillian Wearing, Howard Sooley, Jem Southam, Jo Pearl, Joya Berrow, Leia Marasovich, Lewis Brander, Lubaina Himid, Maggi Hambling, Mariana Heilmann, masharu, Mike Perry, Nancy Cadogan, Otobong Nkanga, Susie Hamilton, Tanoa Sasraku, Theodore Roussel, Thérèse Oulton, Wim van Egmond, Wolfgang Tillmans.
Click here to find out more
Click here to find out more
Southnord Art Fest
(Roots En Route group show)
17 October 26 – 03 January 27
Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden
Finnish Museum of Natural History
Kaisaniemenranta 2
00170 Helsinki, Finland
(Roots En Route group show)
17 October 26 – 03 January 27
Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden
Finnish Museum of Natural History
Kaisaniemenranta 2
00170 Helsinki, Finland
Click here to find out more about the Southnord Art Fest
Click here to find out more about the group show
Click here to find out more about the group show
Becoming America:
How Science Shaped a Nation
23 October 26 – 25 April 27
The Science Museum
Exhibition Road, South Kensington,
London, SW7 2DD
How Science Shaped a Nation
23 October 26 – 25 April 27
The Science Museum
Exhibition Road, South Kensington,
London, SW7 2DD
Salon show with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery
30 October. - 28 November
2414 Florida Avenue
West Palm Beach FL 3401
USA
30 October. - 28 November
2414 Florida Avenue
West Palm Beach FL 3401
USA
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
SPECIAL COMMISSIONS:
2026 - From the ones who came before | Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
SELECT PAST GROUP SHOWS
2026 - Artists First | National Portrait Gallery, London
2025 - Plant Dreaming | Leeds Art Galley, The Headrow, Leeds
2025 - The Land Sings Back | Drawing Room, London
2025 - Hard Graft: Work, health and rights | Wellcome Collection, London
2025 - Earthbound | The New Art Gallery Walsall
2025 - Spirit in the land | Cummer Museum, Jacksonville Florida, USA
2025 - Conversations |Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
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 New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK
The British Museum, London, UK
The Wellcome Collection, UK
Nasher Museum at Duke University USA
Leeds Art Gallery, UK
The Government Art Collection, UK
Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, UK
Abbot Hall Museum, Kendal, UK
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
The things we hold sacred - First monograph, coming December 2026
Art and the Critical Medical Humanities, Fiona Johnstone (editor), Allison Morehead (editor), Imogen Wiltshire (editor) - Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 9781350506336
The Primacy of Drawing, 2026; Deanna Petherbridge - Thames and Hudson ISBN: 9780500026083
Black Earth Rising, 2025; Ekow Eshun - Thames and Hudson ISBN: 9780500028780
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: The things we hold sacred - The Voice Newspaper. - Read here
It’s about hurling yourself into the unknown’: Charmaine Watkiss on turning a UK museum upside down - The Guardian Newspaper - Read here
New commission by Charmaine Watkiss at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter - Read here
Reproductive resistance: Charmaine Watkiss’s Return of the Seed Keeper - Read here
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
2025 -Ancestral Knowledges: My Grandmother Is My School | Tate Modern, watch here
2025 - The Land Sings Back - In conversation with Shiraz Bayjoo UCL Institute of Advanced Studies
2025 - Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Black Caribbean Makers | V&A Museum
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
2026 - From the ones who came before | Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
SELECT PAST GROUP SHOWS
2026 - Artists First | National Portrait Gallery, London
2025 - Plant Dreaming | Leeds Art Galley, The Headrow, Leeds
2025 - The Land Sings Back | Drawing Room, London
2025 - Hard Graft: Work, health and rights | Wellcome Collection, London
2025 - Earthbound | The New Art Gallery Walsall
2025 - Spirit in the land | Cummer Museum, Jacksonville Florida, USA
2025 - Conversations |Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
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 New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK
The British Museum, London, UK
The Wellcome Collection, UK
Nasher Museum at Duke University USA
Leeds Art Gallery, UK
The Government Art Collection, UK
Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford, UK
Abbot Hall Museum, Kendal, UK
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
The things we hold sacred - First monograph, coming December 2026
Art and the Critical Medical Humanities, Fiona Johnstone (editor), Allison Morehead (editor), Imogen Wiltshire (editor) - Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 9781350506336
The Primacy of Drawing, 2026; Deanna Petherbridge - Thames and Hudson ISBN: 9780500026083
Black Earth Rising, 2025; Ekow Eshun - Thames and Hudson ISBN: 9780500028780
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: The things we hold sacred - The Voice Newspaper. - Read here
It’s about hurling yourself into the unknown’: Charmaine Watkiss on turning a UK museum upside down - The Guardian Newspaper - Read here
New commission by Charmaine Watkiss at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter - Read here
Reproductive resistance: Charmaine Watkiss’s Return of the Seed Keeper - Read here
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
2025 -Ancestral Knowledges: My Grandmother Is My School | Tate Modern, watch here
2025 - The Land Sings Back - In conversation with Shiraz Bayjoo UCL Institute of Advanced Studies
2025 - Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Black Caribbean Makers | V&A Museum
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