Raisa Watkiss

Raisa Watkiss is a multidisciplinary artist whose conceptual practice explores liminality, nostalgia, and the complexities of mental illness, trauma, shame and guilt. Drawing from personal experiences with anxiety and compulsive ritualistic behaviours, her work examines the often invisible realities of psychological distress through ceramics, performance and analogue film, particularly Super 8 and 8mm.

Her practice frequently investigates ritual, memory and the body, creating what she describes as “anti-psychiatry” tools and performative gestures that respond to experiences of emotional and mental instability. Watkiss often approaches her work through the perspective of the “lunatic,” using art as a way to visualise and navigate the trauma of mental illness.

Alongside her studio practice, her doctoral research at Loughborough University explores British lament poetry (AD 600–1400) and the concept of liminal space as a framework for understanding contemporary mental health experiences.

Watkiss was the winner of The Cass London Annual Writing Prize and the 2023 National Graduate Prize, London.

Website: raisawatkiss.org
Vimeo: Vimeo Portfolio
Bandcamp: Bandcamp
Research PDF: LCB Depot PDF
Article: DMU Feature

Socials: Facebook, X and Instagram — @raisawatkiss

Credits:

Seamstress @maggieczernek
Fabric supplier @directfabricwarehouse

Selected Works

We dreamed of a day like this, 2026

as part of Our Very Fabric

For the Generator, in line with the large-scale fabric pieces in my practice, I have created a 30-metre fabric-based performative installation titled We dreamed of a day like this, featuring a bow to mark the regeneration of the space for the grand opening. Frayed edges represent renewal, regeneration, and the movement from emptiness to reoccupation.