Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds 2026
Hidden Kingdoms, Shifting Worlds is a long-term art and research project developed since 2015 in collaboration with Newcastle University’s Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology (CBCB). Based at the artist’s studio and the CBCB, the project explores painting through the interconnected themes of everyday life, bacterial behaviour, trauma, conflict, survival, and transformation.
Combining intense materials and processes, the paintings and films stage encounters between life and death, the human and the machine. They invite audiences to reflect on connection, change, and the relationship between art and science. The project has so far resulted in two exhibitions at the CBCB, in 2018 and 2022. A collection of paintings is available for public viewing at the CBCB by appointment.
The work incorporates a composite of high-grade and electro-grade solvents, opposing retardants, oil-based inks, oil- and water-based paints, and mineral powders, including copper sulphate. Through these materials and processes, the paintings seek to evoke purity and beauty by capturing life in its raw, unfiltered form. They emerge from ongoing research into the identities, behaviours, and interactions of bacterial strains and communities.
The project’s origins lie in a life-threatening infection caused by Group A Streptococcus (GAS), which the artist contracted while travelling through the Comoros Islands. This experience became a catalyst for artwork and its subsequent collaboration with the CBCB. The paintings and films embody the visceral effects of trauma using the complexity of the microbial world as a lens to explore human experience, both individually and collectively.
Hidden Kingdoms, Shifting Worlds remains open to multiple interpretations, enabling diverse audiences to engage with the work in their own ways. It also welcomes curatorial collaboration, allowing the paintings and films to be presented in broader public contexts where art and science can meet. These fields remain central to our understanding of existence, interdependence, and civilisation.
The project invites audiences to discover a hidden realm of interaction, complexity, and transformation and to reflect on how life-changing events can reshape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
>As our collaboration has progressed, a clear synergy has developed, despite our different perspectives on the artwork that’s generated. Dr Richard Daniel, March 2026 Co-collaborator and Senior Lecturer, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology Dr Outi Remes, Head of Exhibitions at South Hill Park, curated the exhibition, Flaw: The New Work, featuring John Millard, the former manager of Liverpool and Newcastle Museums. Dr Davy Smith highlights the Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds Exhibition 2022 in his accompanying article. John Millard Review for Shifting Worlds Exhibition 2018: https://www.derekhill.co.uk/work/cat/hidden-kingdoms-shifting-worlds/ Dr Outi Remes: https://www.derekhill.co.uk/shifts-in-time-a-journey-2/ Dr Davy Smith Review for Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds Exhibition 2022: Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds: https://www.derekhill.co.uk/work/cat/hidden-kingdoms-shifting-worlds/ Artist at the CBCB, Newcastle University: https://www.derekhill.co.uk/work/cat/artist-at-the-cbcb/ Hidden Kingdoms Shifting Worlds YouTube Video Shorts Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQteKPuE8QuOHNERlXBbHc7deFr0kzv9k&si=GkSYoTHatwnvnMDJ Artist at the CBCB, Animation Films of Lab Research: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQteKPuE8QuMw3F65_zb1p3AtYoQo0xNq&si=Tz2XmMniZzEbJtk7 The science perspective
From a science perspective, Dr Richard Daniel appraises Hill’s artwork and research in relation to CBCB research as a whole. *Hidden Kingdoms, Shifting Worlds* is a title that encompasses a wide range of sources for artwork. It also refers to bacterial cell function and strains—communities of bacteria whose interactions generate patterns of behaviour that are fascinating to observe in time-lapse sequences. Cell structure and function are underpinned by “building blocks” or “scaffolding”: a complex, continually evolving process of construction and restructuring.
>My understanding of bacterial growth and how that impacts the organism’s interaction with its environment is focused primarily on the individual cell and molecular processes, whereas Derek has an eye for the population level and how that changes with cell density, interactions, and the action of antibiotics. All of these processes result in characteristic patterns and structures that have fascinating parallels with the art Derek generates.
>From my perspective, the bacterial cell is encased in a set of protective layers that have differing properties. These layers are dynamic and are modified in response to both the environment and communication between the individual bacterial cells. This ultimately results in a complex microbial community (biofilm) that has surface properties that result in the formation of colonies with patterned surfaces. In this respect, there are significant parallels to the “significantly larger” canvases that Derek generates. >Here, his application of different materials and paints results in surface features that develop over time, generating wrinkles and deformations. This process Derek has exploited, combined with solvent incompatibility and slow evaporation, to obtain textures and colour variations that in many ways mimic biology, but at a scale that can easily be appreciated. A consequence of this is that although I appreciate the visual components of his work, I am equally fascinated by how the result was achieved, an aspect of his artistic process that is difficult to present to an audience in real time. In this respect, our collaboration has provided a way to link scientific research and art that are mutually beneficial. Of these, the key one has been the inspiration to develop experimental approaches that have visual results and devise new ways to present visual images and concepts. Derek’s inquisitive approach to understanding biological processes and visualising bacterial growth and interaction in real time has resulted in further synergies between his work and my research. Here, the application of time-lapse imaging, both at the micro- and macroscopic level, gave an appreciation of the interaction of microbes and how “small-organic” processes culminate in visual textures and features. (These features further reinforce the parallels that can be seen in many of the current Derek’s projects.)
>The ultimate aim of our work is to generate material that “intrigues the viewer” into their own interpretation of the processes involved and to use this to extend understanding of both the microbial world and artistic interpretation.
Newcastle University Biosciences Institute, Baddiley-Clark Building, NE2 4AX
