Biography
Charmaine Watkiss (b. London, UK 1964) lives and works in London. She has studied at the University of Westminster (1994), City and Literary Institute (2015) and did a postgraduate in Drawing at the Wimbledon College of Art (UAL). Solo exhibitions of her work have recently included The Seed Keepers, Tiwani Contemporary Gallery, London (2021); Earthbound, The New Art Gallery, Walsall and Charmaine Watkiss: Legacy in the Lake District at Abbot Hall, Kendal (both 2024). Recent group exhibitions include Reverb at the Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2024); Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights, Wellome Collection, London (2024/25); Drawing attention: emerging British artists, British Museum (2022); Royal Academy, London; and Breakfast Under the Tree, curated by Russell Tovey, at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (both 2021).
Watkiss was shortlisted for the 198 Gallery Women of Colour Award (2020) and the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (2019). She was selected as a commissioned artist for the 12th edition of the Liverpool Biennial 2023 and in 2024 her work was included in group shows at the Venice Biennale, Perez Art Museum Miami, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Drawing Biennial, London. Her art is held in several public collections, including the British Museum; the Government Art Collection; Cartwright Hall, Bradford; Abbot Hall. Kendal (Lakeland Arts) and The Holburne Museum, Bath.
"Having my works acquired by the Contemporary Art Society for placement at Abbot Hall affirms that as an artist my work has a wider cultural value. I am pleased that my two drawings will be exposed to a new audience in a region which has an interesting history around people of African descent; my wish is that they will form part of an ongoing conversation around belonging and place."
