Charmaine Watkiss in RAMM. Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery 2026. Photo - Simon Tutty

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. 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.