Jemma Watts

I am an artist based in Norwich

My work has always been concern with power, especially systems of power that govern everyday life. I study institutions that are sometimes physical (such as hospitals) or, increasingly, imagined or social.

All my work begins as a compulsive drawing, an image will appear that often comes from unconscious associations that go back many years. The drawings naturally group together and I start learning about the subconscious world they have come from.

Maybe because of the ephemeral way the images are arrived at, it is important to me that the outcome is layered with evidence of the process used to create it. With etching this means allowing imperfections on the plate which both veils the image and creates an uncomfortable tension between the image as a pretence of reality and as a contrived series of lines and tone.


I graduated with a BA (hons) in Visual Studies in 2004 from the Norwich Universtity College of the Arts. I am currently working as an freelance educator for various institutions including the Sainsbury's Centre for Visual Art and Norwich Art Centre.

For my full CV please click here

Recent Reviews

Artspool Gallery exhibition at The Studios - J. M. Jurczyszyn, 11/05/10

"...Jemma Watts' work seems to be the most striking. “Binge” (1, 2- coloured pencil and photocopy) are forceful, rather Baconesque and vividly pornographic images of two naked, visibly intoxicated women in the centre of a town at night. Their obvious sexualisation is amplified by the use of deep red to emphasise their mouths, shoes and nipples. This orgy of colour is contrasted with the stark greyness of the city landscape; the bleakness of which is representing the emptiness of their lives. “House” (1, 3- etching) gives us images of female entrapment within the intricate outlines of a building. Finally in “Domesticity” project (cliché verre), in what seems to be at first glance an assembly of playful pictures, we encounter sexual violence; this time channelled by a naked woman being assaulted by everyday kitchen objects. Jemma Watts’ pieces speak very loudly about femininity which is constrained and deformed by the contemporary culture..."

Artspool Gallery exhibition at The Studios - Lucile Deslignères 9/5/10

"...My favourite of them all was probably Jemma Watts, I absolutely loved the many different facets of her techniques with her subjects, Binge 1 and 6 (unfortunately not for sale or perhaps it is fortunate because you wouldn't know where to put this in your house, a museum would be better) are made of a mix of photocopy and coloured pencil representing women -or are they just plain monsters you could see on the side of hell of a jugdement scene made by the ancient masters like Bosch? The contrast between the blur of the photocopied background and the precision of the pencil' texture is fantastic..."