VALERIE HILL

My current work is an exploration and an attempt to master traditional mediums like oil, ceramics, and acrylics. So, for most of my inspiration I am looking to examples of past artists methods. While exploring how to best describe my content I am exploring forms and methods of art. I like to connect my content to my own personal journeys. I explore narratives of sexuality, trauma, and consciousness with a focus on the subconscious and hidden aspects of the psyche. While looking inward I am also relating to my experience and understanding of the world around me by challenging my own perception of self, the world, and the often-limiting taxonomy subscribed by structures of societal power of the present and past. I try to convey a sense of duality in most of my work, whether it be the real versus the imagined, the past and the present, or the micro and the macro. In my depictions of duality, I want to show that each paradigm exists simultaneously. So, I use a lot of depictions of transformation. Each piece has a unique topic, but all pieces fit into a whole as they relate to encompassing and overlapping experiences. I am inspired by nature, specifically its ability to survive and change. I find that humanities ability to survive and change reflects our connection to nature and disputes the idea that humans are not animals and are not a part of earthly or astrological cycles. For me understanding myself as a unique part of a collective- unique, vast, and never truly dichotomized is a humbling and divine experience. I believe my work speaks to this idea of humbled existentialism, eternal cycles, and the fragility of mortality.