Harley Ives

Born 1981, Penrith
Bachelor of Arts, Fine Arts
Graduation show: 2002
Graduation ceremony: 2003


Artwork in Space YZ

Lightning, 2004
Single channel video with sound (portrait format)
2 mins (approx.) seamless loop

Lightning (stills), 2004

Like a number of people in my cohort, I was drawn to working with the moving image and in particular, with the material artefacts of the analogue medium. The tearing, skewing, over-saturation, dropout, and vertical roll present in my videos were all procedural markers of the dismantling and rearranging of a medium that featured significantly in the cultural memory of my youth.

Lightning was one of the first works I made after graduating. In this video, all the afore mentioned artefacts build up over time in a call and response to the original lightning storm I captured on tape.

I remember wanting to go to UWS because of its focus on a conceptual and interdisciplinary approach to art making. After receiving several seemingly absurd directives in my first year, I knew I was in the right place. Almost 20 years on, I know it was learning to think through these directives that continues to have the biggest impact on my approach to making today.

I’m incredibly grateful for my time at UWS largely because of the amazing staff that taught there but also because of the wonderful and inspiring cohort I graduated with. For me, the Fine Arts course at UWS felt young and motivated, unburdened by a historical pedagogy. It felt like a real future forward art school which is a sad thing to lose.  

Learn more about Harley Ives by visiting his website.