Charmaine Watkiss: From the ones who came before...

Nationally acclaimed British artist Charmaine Watkiss is well known for works that explore the botanical legacy and healing traditions of the Caribbean through which she traces a lineage to Africa. For RAMM’s commission, From the ones who came before… Charmaine has created two separate works.

Inspired by the museum’s West African displays, Watkiss has produced a watercolour drawing and a mask. Her own likeness is represented as a fictionalised double portrait in Flash of the Spirit which also shows a nkisi (power figure) from RAMM’s collection. This carving of a kneeling woman has bilongo (medicines) on her stomach and marine shells inside it, linking it to water spirits.

Creating a mask is a new development in Watkiss’s sculptural practice. It has been directly inspired by the Mukenga (helmet mask) from Kuba in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike the artefact in RAMM’s collection, Watkiss’s mask has a pouch attached containing dried, medicinal herbs and a prayer.

Watkiss explains the inspiration for this by saying, ‘this helmet mask will be in a cabinet with traditional African masks that are amazing, artisanal pieces. But I felt that there was a story that’s missing there, and it’s a story about the diaspora, those who were taken away from the African continent. My mask speaks to that journey through material and methods of making. I’m using a lot of weaving on this mask, inspired by weaving traditions that are strong in the Caribbean, particularly in Jamaica.’

Watkiss’s work is held in public collections across the UK including in Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Lakeland Arts; the British Museum and Leeds Museums and Galleries. She is currently showing a new commission in the National Portrait Galleries’ Artists First: Contemporary Perspectives on Portraiture until 3 August 2026.

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