Sarah Hills

I had the pleasure of visiting the studio of Sarah Hill in Chelsea. Sarah's paintings are visually as well as conceptually poetic, as they capture consciousness and memories on canvas, representing the archaeology of time, the unknown, meditative scenes, and "proustians" effects.

Time and the places that exist within and beyond memory are at the core of these paintings. 

They reference the notion that the places we have lived and experienced in the past exist within us and can impact how we perceive the elusive nature and progress of time. 

From the archives of memory certain cherished objects, quotidian motifs, and borrowed and appropriated images are reimagined to create charged psychological spaces that suggest unexpected narratives and reflect a disorientating search for meaning. 

The hauntological reflections, mix the past, the future, and the present to search for truths previously concealed.

In the creation of these works, there is an attempt, through the materiality of the paint - repetitive mark making, its disintegration, rupture, and failure - to explore the fallibility and mutability of memory.

At times deeply personal, the work also seeks to find a universal language and meaning through metaphor and humour. The imagery of voids and empty spaces, suggests transitional moments and inevitably leads to thoughts of one’s own departure.