Brigitte Watkinson

Brigitte Watkinson was born in Bavaria, Germany, and has lived and worked in Cheshire for over twenty years. Since embarking on an MFA, her work has become multi-disciplinary, drawing upon her observations and personal experiences as a linguist and teacher, who is hyperconscious of how easy it is to ‘get the wrong end of the stick’.

Working mainly with mixed media her work focuses on further developing the use of unconventional materials. Found objects, sculpture, poetry and print come together to form a tactile layered narrative.

Brigitte’s most recent series ‘I’m Still Alive’ is a direct, personal response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Colourful collage elements, paint, print, found items on current news stories weave a subtle narrative exploring feelings of despair, hope, endurance and optimism.

Brigitte says about her work:

‘Working as a visual artist for some years, I have spent time researching and subsequently visualising communication between trees before shifting my focus to my own actual and imagined semantic experiences. Sitting between two chairs, I draw on day to day conversations, literal translations and poking fun at political rhetoric and propaganda. I employ metaphors, materials and methods to ravel and unravel communication processes and to create new narratives.

Using collage, painting, sculpture, text and spun newspaper I build layers to emphasise the multi-dimensional process of communication and resulting blunders. Sometimes I create my own language and play with words, idioms, meanings and messages. My approach varies, sometimes I highlight miscommunication to point out its existence; at other times I wish to purposely miscommunicate, to confuse and disguise, subsequently turning the notion of ‘art as a communication tool’ on its head. At the same time, I tend not to take language too seriously and pepper my work with a good sense of German humour!