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Tracey J. Hill
Visual Artist & Graphic Designer
"Art movements have been made out of adversity, because humans have
a survival gene."
Where are you currently?
Crashing at my mom's apartment in Princeton, N.J. I'm currently working on photo montages.
Has your art making shifted in response to the pandemic? How?
I don't think it has shifted, because I have been doing montages for a while, and then stopped to paint... Okay, I just described a shift, but this form of expression has picked back up for me since I've been here. My mom subscribes to a bunch of magazines. I used to search thrift stores for donated magazines, now I have to use what I can get. I read through hundreds of them to find images that'll speak to my composition.
What is the role that art can play in helping us confront our new reality?
I keep notes in my phone, and saw that I wrote, "Art ... Saves ... Lives ... Trauma ... Survivors ..." I know I was writing about myself at the time, but as we confront our new reality, I think that says it all. Making something out of very little, or making something beautiful or functional from ordinary objects on hand, seeing light, shadows, and/or color in everyday things - the beauty we find or can express - gives me hope. Art movements have been made out of adversity, because humans have a survival gene.
Tracey J. Hill is a visual artist, graphic designer, and community artist living in Atlanta. See more of her work here.