VANESSA HILLER

ARTIST BIO

Vanessa Hiller is a resident of London and is an artist who paints, draws and writes poetry. She is also a primary school teacher who during lockdown was forced to take her teaching job online. Finding it stressful to do her teaching job from home whilst also home schooling her own youngest child she turned back to her much loved passion of painting to help her mentally cope. She also found a new voice in painting and the work has been heavily influenced by the emotions that were drawn out after the death of George Floyd. She is a dual heritage mother who hopes that her work gives people the space to reflect and she meditates to find inner peace in the silence of being still.

In her work she often uses an illustrative approach and she likes to work with acrylic paint and watercolour. She uses collage techniques in some of her art and she often uses photographs and old magazines as inspiration for the stories that she wants to tell. She uses her own history and old photos of her family are often used as inspiration. She likes to put together the pieces of memories that are transient. Sometimes the inspiration comes out of a deep meditative state and other times there is a deep sense of loss or the memory of an event that dictates the work.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Each person we meet on our life’s journey has the ability to change us and impact our behaviour. When I paint, I gradually release each layer until it becomes a map of the present or a memory of lived experiences of universal trauma, hope, pain and joy. I paint the sinner, the abused, the political activist, the dreamer, the post-natal mother, the daughter, the sister. When I paint I am Woman and I feel the force of it in my brushstrokes. At times the brushstrokes appear as a healing balm. When I paint I place my own experience into the work. I am sometimes the victim but I am also the hero in my own story. When I paint an image of an incident that occurred when I was thirteen I stop being voiceless. When I paint roses for victims of domestic abuse I take back my power and offer up my love for others.

In my work I often use an illustrative approach and I like to work with acrylic paint and watercolour. I use collage techniques in some of my art and I often use photographs and old magazines as inspiration for the stories that I want to tell. I use my own history and old photos of my family are often used as inspiration. I try to put together the pieces of memories that are transient. Sometimes the inspiration comes out of a deep meditative state and other times there is a deep sense of loss or the memory of an event that dictates the work.


Website: www.vanessahiller.art
IG: @v.hiller