Jameela Hill
Category: Artist/Individual
Discipline: Community arts
Program Affiliations: Arts Foundation Grantees
I am Jameela Hill, born and raised in Detroit, MI. I moved to Tucson 4 years ago to start a new life. I'm an artist, full-time mother to my intuitive, funny, and fierce 10 year old daughter. As a trauma survivor I did not believe I would live to adulthood and so never made plans for my life. After my daughter was born, I was motivated to do more than survive. I became a certified yoga instructor, and I’m currently studying grief through my training to become a full-spectrum doula. As an adult, I transformed my violent childhood into an embodied space of safety. I create a safe haven in all of my interactions and artmaking.
I am a teaching artist at DREAM School’s KindeziCare youth programming where I lead movement through storytelling. I incorporate dreamwork into my art offerings, which continue to be both a bonding activity with my daughter and an outlet for navigating my depression/grief through discovering myself. I hold space for everyone to live with authenticity and joy. I am expanding my capacity as a culture bearer through DREAM School’s adult program.
Acrylic pour where the end goal here is meant to reflect my
move from MI where I was surrounded by fresh, natural water to AZ where there’s
mostly man made bodies of water. The gold foil leaf represents the optimism I’ve had to
hold in the face of adversity as well as the openness to things looking differently than
they always have.