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Brittany M. Watkins (b.1989) is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Southern United States. Her practice examines contemporary society through a lens of psycho-analysis and social critique as she moves between a range of media. From immersive installation to hyper edited video-performances, her intuitive (subconscious) process mirrors the push and pull between interiority and public life, linking larger social issues to the fragility of the human psyche. Since obtaining her Master’s Degree of Fine Art in 2016 from Florida State University, she has exhibited in venues ranging from international art fairs and museums to experimental, artist-run-spaces in the U.S. and abroad. Her site-specific installation <Accept [(Self) + Elsewhere] was awarded the Juried Panel Prize ($25,000) in ArtFields 2017, where she later erected a public art installation at TRAX Visual Art Center for ArtFields 2018. She was a finalist for Foundwork’s Inaugural Artist Prize (2019) and later nominated for the Joan Mitchell Painter’s & Sculptor’s Grant in 2020. Since 2018, she has participated in residencies such as The Vermont Studio Center, 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences, and Long Road Projects. She currently lives and works in Columbia, South Carolina as a full-time artist.
The books mentioned in the interview are Mastery by Robert Greene and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.
[…] Brittany M. Watkins is based in South Carolina where she is beginning to go out as the pandemic eases. As someone who works from home regardless, Watkins admits that not a lot changed for her during lockdown in terms of work. However, last year Watkins’ father became ill unexpectedly and did not make it. Losing her father, who was her closest person to her in the family, changed her work in that she now examines not only how we navigate the external world, she now includes themes of mortality and how we deal with taking care of others as well as a look at our physical bodies. Shortly after losing her father, Watkins was scheduled to attend residency in Eerie, PA. Knowing that he would have wanted her to go, she attended and was able to set up a tour of blighted buildings taken over by the city. These became the basis for work unlike anything she has ever created. To hear more about this and other aspects of her practice, listen to the complete interview. […]
[…] Brittany M. Watkins is based in South Carolina where she is beginning to go out as the pandemic eases. As someone who works from home regardless, Watkins admits that not a lot changed for her during lockdown in terms of work. However, last year Watkins’ father became ill unexpectedly and did not make it. Losing her father, who was her closest person to her in the family, changed her work in that she now examines not only how we navigate the external world, she now includes themes of mortality and how we deal with taking care of others as well as a look at our physical bodies. Shortly after losing her father, Watkins was scheduled to attend residency in Eerie, PA. Knowing that he would have wanted her to go, she attended and was able to set up a tour of blighted buildings taken over by the city. These became the basis for work unlike anything she has ever created. To hear more about this and other aspects of her practice, listen to the complete interview. […]