Interview date:
February 8, 2021
Hillary D. Wilson is a medical illustrator and fantasy artist who uses her background in medicine and art, along with tech tools, to accurately depict Black people and other under-represented groups in science and art.
Hillary has used her talent to de-mystify the gender affirmation (gender re-assignment) surgical process. "I was really drawn to the need to tell a story about something that is very complicated and very difficult to understand in a way that's clear and isn't going to scare somebody...So I was really drawn to the challenge of telling something that's very intense in a way that somebody could observe it in a way that isn't so intense."
"One of the things that I struggle with is feeling not quite understood and not quite seen as a full, rich person who doesn't just 'Black woman' in her free time. Obviously, I'm always a Black woman but I don't just sit around and talk about race all the time. I also want to feel as though my skills are appreciated for what they are. Sometimes it can be difficult to feel like you can truly own your skills and the talents that you do bring...It can feel like people are like 'We need a Black body, we need a Black voice so we'll get her to talk about it' rather than 'She's just really good at this.'"
