Born in Oxford in 1984, at an early age James Watkins emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand. In his late teens, he committed to his interest in photography and writing before travelling New Zealand and living in the rural communities of Golden Bay and Great Barrier Island. During this time he won first prize at the Golden Bay Art Awards and held his first solo photographic exhibition.

In 2010, he relocated to Australia where he spent five years between Melbourne & Sydney. Here, he immersed himself in the contemporary art world whilst employed as an editor-in-chief, writer and photographer. His experience in arts journalism resulted in the development of his own mixed media painting practice focusing on self-analysis, abstract forms and experimental mark marking.

After leaving Australia in 2015, he lived in Oxfordshire and Istanbul before spending a year in Paris where he expanded his visual art onto the streets and continued to develop his photographic practice. Returning to London, in 2019 he held his first solo painting exhibition, Somewhere Between at Three Colt Gallery, followed by his second, Jewels for Everyone at Nam House Gallery in Hackney. 

In 2021, James moved to Mexico City where he continued to paint and worked as an arts writer, advisory consultant and photographer while helping to establish contemporary art space Casa Astrónoma in 2023. Here he held his third painting exhibition Future Paradise, inspired by the colours, natural forms, and history of Mexico. In 2024 he returned to New Zealand where he currently resides and continues to explore his interest in the natural world through both painting and photography.