Jim Hill shares history and offers hope in his mosaic artwork

Artist Jim Hill has unveiled a painting in Atlanta that 15-years-ago was considered to controversial to view at an art display in New York.

Artist Jim Hill has unveiled a painting in Atlanta that 15-years-ago was considered to controversial to view at an art display in New York.

Over the past several decades, Jim Hill has been a top model, a teacher and a champion of the homeless. The one thing he has never stopped doing is creating art.

From his earliest days as a young boy growing up in Brooklyn, Hill used his art to document the world around him. Since he didn’t have traditional tools, he used scraps of colored paper and cardboard to create mosaics, a process he still uses today.

His work, which explores themes in black culture and black history, including a controversial piece inspired by a story told by Rep. John Lewis, was recently on display in Atlanta during a month-long exhibit at the Douglas Stratton Photography Studio on the Westside.

“This is American history even though people call it Black history,” Hill said. “I was trying to create and show that there is a way out of this turmoil and hate. We have to find the way out through self-esteem.”

Hill recently sat down to talk about his many careers, his art and his desire to open a sanctuary for the homeless here in Atlanta.

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