Stephanie Hill
Chicago, IL
Summer 2026 * Photography
Artist Statement
Stephanie’s current working series, called Illusion of Possession, explores their experience of growing up in Lawrence County, Illinois during the two decades immediately after the 990 acre Indian Oil Refinery, the most lucrative source of economic growth in the county’s history, closed. Stephanie is the seventh generation on both the maternal and paternal sides of their family to be raised in Lawrence County. Both sides of their family contributed to the oil industry greatly.
Their maternal side were Scots-Irish immigrants who owned the land where one of the deepest wells in the history of Illinois oil was found and made a fortune selling that oil to the refinery. Their paternal side came to America from England in the 1670’s and rockily migrated West, working for the refinery and risking their lives to make a living. Being split between both sides gave Stephanie the insight into the differentiating polarity of their community without giving them a way to fully fit into it.
Thus, they turn to the past, using both contemporary and analog images to explore how the past and present can be housed within a place and how memory plays into shaping that place. Illusion of Possession analyzes themes like industrial influence on American tradition, sacrifice vs spectacle, and generational connection.
The artist in the studio.
Works
Senior Citizen Mural, Bridgeport, Illinois. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
September 10, 2025. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
Funerary Meat Tray No. 1. Archival Pigment Print. 13x19 inches
Chief Tawanka's Middle Name Is Delusion. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Bridgeport, Illinois. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
Time Stamp. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
Bob's Medcine Cabinet. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
Burn-off. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
3rd Street Bottoms. Archival Pigment Print. 13x19 inches
Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Bridgeport, Illinois. Archival Pigment Print. 16x24 inches
About the Artist
Stephanie Hill (she/they) is an artist from Southern Illinois. Their professional practice deals primarily within photography and text and is grounded in research that heavily considers the niche histories of their subjects. Stephanie has three degrees in photography from Vincennes University, (AS, 2017) Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, (BA, 2019) and Columbia College Chicago. (MFA, 2026) Currently they are residing in Chicago with their partner, Josh, and their cats, Toph and Nieve.
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