The perfect storm: Basil Watson creates the National Windrush Monument

The selection of Jamaican, USA-based sculptor Basil Watson to create the National Windrush Monument commission is inspired.

Watson is a part of a three-generation dynasty of artists who are known as the ‘Jamaican royal family’ of artists. Barrington Watson, Watson’s father, was an esteemed artist in his own right, his three sons are also artists, and Basil Watson’s son, Kai, is following the family tradition of creating art in the studio he shares with his father in Georgia, USA.

The Windrush migration story is the Watson family story. It is also the story of many people like them. The Watson family lived in the UK for about a decade in the 1950s and 1960s – they travelled from the Caribbean with similar suitcases to those depicted in the sculpture. This sculpture – a cast in bronze – is both personal and global for the creator Basil Watson. The National Windrush Monument will be situated in Waterloo Station, London from 22nd June 2022, unveiled on the fifth national Windrush Day in the UK.

Read more at Art UK