Susan Hiller

With a background in anthropology, Susan Hiller collects ordinary cultural artefacts and transforms them into art works that touch upon inherent contradictions in society. She explores the individual and collective unconscious by presenting materials in specific and innovative ways. During her career she has worked with painting, sculpture, sound, text, video, photography, drawing, and installation. Her multimedia approach concerns social, anthropological, and feminist involvements, and challenges traditional ideas of authorship and interpretative subject-matter. For instance, Outlaw Cowgirl, 2005, presents a framed picture of a girl with a gun, and a shelf with ceramic cow creamers – one of which is shattered. Like with much of Hiller’s work, the combination of elements becomes not only psychologically charged, but also socially engaging.