Maggie Hills (b. 1968, Pimu, DR Congo) paints gestural figures in hazy spaces, capturing the weighty significance of fleeting moments and chance encounters. Embedded in Hills’ practice is a preliminary art of looking: collections of found imagery sourced from TV shows, family archives, internet screenshots, daily wanderings become scaffolding of her subject matter. Recorded and transposed, Hills works and reworks a canvas, sometimes over years, rendering the initial source material unrecognizable in the process. As such, her final composition is not premeditated but rather revealed though the act of painting itself.
Maggie Hills received an MA in Fine Art from University of Edinburgh (1992) and an MA in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art (1994). Select solo exhibitions include: This moment is not important but it’s all there is, A_PLACE, Glasgow (2023); Maggie Hills: Used Paintings, Bill’s Junk, Houston, US (2019); Blunderland, Optical Project, Houston (2008); dream as if your life depends on it, Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland, (2004); Island View, Durham City Art Gallery, Durham (2004); Maggie Hills, Galerie Garanin, Berlin (2003). Select group exhibitions include: Domus Meus, Paul Smith Space, London (2024); Between Two Moons, No31 Gallery, Duns, Scottish Borders (2024); Opening, A_PLACE Gallery, Glasgow, (2023); Art School, Gallery 46, Whitechapel, London (2023); Learning by Doing, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2008); Horizont, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin (2006).
She has been the recipient of the SUPERDEALS Brussels Artist Residency (2025); Creative Scotland Open Funding Award (2025); VACMA Award, Glasgow Life / Creative Scotland (2019); British Council Travel Award (2008 & 2006); ACME Fire Station Residency, London (2005–10); Artist in Residence, Durham Cathedral, (2004); Core Program, Artist in Residence, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1997-99).
Hills lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland.