Two contemporary drawings by British artist Charmaine Watkiss join the outstanding art collection at Lakeland Arts.  

Tenacity Serves the Warrior Well and Warriors Inhabit Mind, Body and Spirit have been acquired by the Contemporary Art Society for Abbot Hall, Lakeland Arts.  

Born in London to Jamaican parents, Charmaine Watkiss creates works on paper that explore her extensive research into the diverse cultural heritages of the African Caribbean diaspora.

Working mainly with pencil and paper, Watkiss incorporates other materials such as watercolour and ink to draw out additional layers of meaning and fields of reference. Her recent work has focused on the interconnectivity between history, botany, and cosmology. 

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While she draws her life-sized images from reference portraits of herself, they are not self-portraits; rather, they are characters with which to navigate her ideas. 

Charmaine Watkiss said: “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.” 

The artworks will join the collection and plans to display them will be announced in due course.