About

Through his project 'Ordinary', Hill creates portrait paintings as vignettes of people frequently seen through the lens of diagnoses or social marginalisation, reclaiming their stories from reductive narratives. His work uses the visual language of 17th-century genre painting, translating classical techniques into digital media to assert a contemporary social and moral framework, representing marginalised people with dignity and depth.

Hill’s process is both rigorous and ethically engaged: subjects are co-authors of their representation, with agency embedded in the creation and reception of each portrait, ensuring that the finished pieces reflect lived experience rather than imposed interpretation. In doing so, Hill exposes the power dynamics historically encoded in portraiture while creating a space where dignity is a default, not a reward.

Growing up in a working-class family, Hill lived with chronic illness from childhood. Neglect and the stigma surrounding mental health led to homelessness in his teens — experiences that left him with CPTSD. Initial scribbles on his skin and on scrap material, made to calm himself, gradually became an artistic practice. Unable to use oil paints for health reasons, Hill turned to digital tools, developing his own medium that captures the brushstroke in layers of process, allowing viewers to engage with each work as they would a traditional painting.

Drawing from his own experiences of chronic illness, trauma, and homelessness, Hill situates his practice at the intersection of personal history, social critique, and art historical dialogue. In 2026, his work was presented at the National Gallery, London. His work has also been exhibited internationally, including solo and group shows in London and New York, and a solo exhibition at Fairhurst Gallery, Norwich (2019–2020). Hill holds a BA in Fine Art from Norwich University of the Arts (2018).