Robert Hite

Life & Legacy

Robert Hite (1956–2020) was an American visual artist. Hite was born in Richmond, Virginia, and lived and worked in Esopus, New York. Robert Hite was inspired both by a rich Southern narrative tradition and closeness to nature. The imagery in his work draws upon the memories of his childhood in rural Virginia during the Civil Rights Movement era. Hite's work explored issues of local knowledge, memory, transience, environment, disenfranchisement and domicile as living art. Much of his photographic work juxtaposes the artificial and the natural and play with architectural scale. In April 2014, Hite was named as a Guggenheim Fellow for his work in fine arts.