Virtual Summit Submission

Florida State University
Studio Art and Anthropology

Biography

Raven Watkins is a senior pursuing dual degrees in Studio Art with Honors and Anthropology. She is also enrolled in the Global Citizenship Certificate and studied abroad in 2024 with FSU International Programs. In 2025, Raven was awarded a Tyler Fellowship to support her participation in the Center for Field Science’s Bioarchaeology Program, where she joined students from around the world to study in Spain. Raven has exhibited her work at the Phyllis Strauss Gallery, 621 Gallery, and the NASAD Arts Exhibition, which highlighted top student work from the Department of Art. Her creative practice explores themes of life and death through natural and historical lenses, informed by her background in anthropology. The questions she encounters through anthropological research often become the foundation of her creative projects, which aim to spark dialogue around underdiscussed issues.

Project

A Tattoo of Spain
Following the Spanish Civil War in 1939, fear and poverty dominated life under Franco’s fascist regime, which ruled Spain until 1975. The immense loss from his brutal reign, coupled with restrictions that prevented families from mourning openly, has left many loved ones buried in unmarked mass graves across the country. I saw this grief embedded in Spain’s history, art, and landscape, and was inspired to look deeper. While working with the Center for Field Science’s Forensics Program in Spain, I assisted in cataloging the remains of a soldier from the Spanish Civil War and visited key sites tied to this era to gain perspective on the truth. Based on this research, I am producing a short stop-motion animation using hand-modeled elements to portray this period, spreading awareness and honoring the human emotion and loss tied to this ongoing crisis.