Discipline: Literature – fiction

DaMaris Hill

Discipline: Literature – fiction
Region: Lexington, KY
MacDowell fellowships: 2016

My writing most resembles literary pastiche. As a writer, I rely on and create distinct archives in the multiple genres. Most often my observations are expressed in surrealist forms that reflect some concepts associated with psychoanalytic theory and memory studies, particularly Toni Morrison’s theories regarding rememory.

I am inspired by the anxieties of our contemporary existence. My work questions, how is one present in a world that blends physical, psychological, and digital spaces, particularly when each of these spaces are rapidly shifting and seemingly eroding? Essentially, I belong to a generation that says that “we do not fear death, but are afraid that we may be erased"-yet again.

As an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, I contribute to the academic mission of five areas of study – creative writing, American literature, and cultural studies, African American and Africana Studies, digital humanities/WIRED learning, and women’s and gender studies. My research stands in the intersections of these disciplinary studies.

Studios

Kirby

DaMaris Hill worked in the Kirby studio.

Erected in memory of Sarah L. Kirby, who had left a bequest to MacDowell, this studio was the first — and remains the only — brick building on the grounds. Built by local mason Augustus Beaulieu, the load-bearing masonry walls rest on a fieldstone foundation. The design of the boxlike building is simple and compact…

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