Hilary Ridley Lee

My Work and Creative Practice

“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness”
Thich Nhat Hanh

My Philosophy

In an era where our mechanistic systems further fragment our connections to nature, each other, and to ourselves, my work seeks to transcend these divisions, acting as an interpreter, ideator, integrator and catalyst for systemic transformation; to remember our human nature in context of all nature, to help build a world where we can all belong.

My Approach to Making Art

My approach challenges the illusion of our separateness, in our inner and outer worlds, inviting viewers to experience a sense of the potential consequences of dissociation, dysregulation and disconnection of mind from body, the inherent wisdom of nature and the infinite potential of individuation.

Giving equal credence to universal wisdom and knowledge, intuition, imagination and insight, mine is a practice that draws on philosophy, neuroscience, art, nature and energy as equal partners in a dynamic unfolding and enfolding - whether through conscious or unconscious thought, feeling, action or non action.

My work - the paintings, their language and their soundscapes - reflect a hyper attuned, overwhelmed nervous system in survival mode, a system disrupted by individual experience and societal conditioning, chronic burn out, executive function challenges and disrupted interoception. Through symbolism, composition, colour, language and ambient resonance, my work invites a shift from dissociation toward coherence— by elevating fragments into conscious awareness and invoking a reclamation of self through sensory interoception and ancestral remembering.

Ultimately the work aims to provide a healing, a reconnection to long forgotten parts of the self so we can integrate, individuate, and create a world that belongs to all.

My Process

I work with multiple mixed media - acrylics, ink, pastels and collage and time. I allow my work to emerge organically and openly, preparing a channel through meditation and reiki, archetype prompts and journalling then symbolism, layering, painting over, peeling back and scraping through; a constant cycle of creation and destruction, of building and repairing of fragments until the work calls itself whole.

I leave works sometimes for weeks or months until we are ready to evolve from the transactional to a deeper energetic connection of resolution and wholeness.

My Intuitive Creative individual and Group Sessions

The personal sessions and classes and corporate workshops that I provide to clients, based out of Sundial Studios in Singapore, also serve as a conduit for my research, as well as a channel for . creative expression and experience which, when layered across modalities, can help form neural pathways for reintegration and neural reconnection - can evoke emotional resonance which increases functional connectivity and a sense of meaning for the viewer, as well as a sense of belonging.

Polyvagal theory suggests that creativity, sound and meditation can shift the nervous system from a fight/flight sympathetic state into a state of safety and connection.

Brain imaging studies also show that meditation, creativity, language and sound activate both hemispheres of the brain to support self awareness, helping expand our intuitive and imaginative powers and our whole brain function.

I I believe that if we purposefully expand our whole minds, not just the over-relied on intellect, we heal and reconnect our inner worlds with our outer behaviour, we will make more courageous, whole brained decisions in our daily lives that intrinsically shift our systems for the better.