Brittany M. Watkins (b.1989, Carrollton, GA) is a distinguished multi-disciplinary artist, gallery director, and educator based in Columbia, SC. Renowned for her large-scale installation works, Watkins has earned notable accolades including the South Carolina Arts Commission State Fellowship in 2024, the South Arts State Fellowship in 2022, and the ArtFields’ Juried Panel Prize in 2018.

Watkins holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from the University of West Georgia (2012) and a Master’s Degree in Studio Art from Florida State University (2016). Her graduate studies ignited a passion for fostering contemporary art in the Southern United States, leading her to establish artist-run spaces and pop-up exhibitions in Tallahassee. She went on to serve as president and exhibitions coordinator of 621 Gallery from 2018-2019 and was appointed Director of Goodall Gallery at Columbia College in July 2023. Her position as gallerist, curator, and community organizer continues to be shaped by an examination of contemporary society at the center of her artistic practice.

As daily life becomes more deeply entrenched with the screen just a fingertip’s length away, the rapidly expanding consumer culture infiltrates the collective consciousness.

My art examines the emotional, physical, and political detritus that overflow in present day America. I examine the relationship between private, psychological space and its counterpart: the public, edited, physical world through a lens of psychoanalysis and social critique. My process begins with collecting (things and information). Cast off materials, discarded or overlooked for a failure to serve the “intended purpose”—here, a line is drawn between the object and the individual, connecting widespread socio-economic concerns to personal fluctuations in stability. Domestic space (the home) acts as a metaphor for the mind and gateway to the psychological.

I arrive equipped with only a color and the edge of an idea, ready to learn from each place, situated in time among history and present day. An immersive installation comes to life in real time as I transform the space in real time. Viewers are invited to enter the artwork as if stepping into a painting. This reality, separate from ordinary life and traditional art viewing, highlights the social psyche linking place to the formation of self/identity.

Vibrant colors first appear joyous and light-hearted but upon closer inspection, formal arrangements of charged marks highlight the underlying damage masked by layers of paint. Emotional tendencies such as insecurity and dependence emerge alongside a compulsive process, exerting a need for control like posturing the self for public display. This work acknowledges the facade of the mediated image that is further perpetuated by social media. The material excess, self-aware in its presentation, questions narratives that equate wealth and external gratification to happiness. These experiential and abstract painted works focus on the present moment, imploring viewers to consider their relationship to the material world.