Harley Manifold was born in Camperdown, Victoria in 1982. In 2003 he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Deakin University in Warrnambool. He then went onto complete his Honours in Fine Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts as the only non alumni in his year. He has been included in numerous Art prizes and group exhibitions. On three occasions he has been a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2015, 2017 & 2021) as well as the Salon Des Refuses of the Archibald and Wynne Prize (2016, 2019, 2021, 2024). The Darling Portrait Prize. Winner of the Warnibald, Warrnambool Portrait Prize. His first sculpture (2024) has won the Trails Sculpture Award.
"My practice explores the land and its psyche—both the terrain we travel and the emotional, reflective spaces it creates within us. My Art is created by moving through the landscape physically and mentally, drawn to the interplay of light and form, and the subtle significance of objects often overlooked: road signs, petrol stations, the edges of sight where things blur.
I'm interested in the liminal between waypoints in the geography of our lives—simultaneously banal and profound. They anchor not just journeys but moments of reckoning, memory, and internal conversation. Light becomes a language of attention. Dusk, in particular, softens the world, offering a space for reflection and a slowing down of thought. These in-between times—like a roadside pause—create psychic landscapes where personal and collective experience meet.
My titles come from overheard fragments of conversation. My creations are a response to place – mental repetitions woven with physical encounters. The work itself holds both my story and the potential for yours – context is questioned repeatedly, like words and songs on loop blurring around mental roadmaps.
I think of painting not just as image-making but as a way of mapping experience—of reading the land as one might read a mind: through gesture, through symbol, through what is felt or heard but not always said. Tugging at the threads on long drives through the night. Take road signs, for instance. What do you see? Can you read them? They’re about the height of a person, and some are roughly the same width. The road itself is a place where many people, especially in the country, spend countless hours—day, night, and everything in between. It’s where a lot of thinking gets done. Decisions are made, unmade, and remade. There’s something profound about the reflective space created by driving: one part of your mind focuses on the task, while the rest is free to wander. Imagine the weighty, life-changing decisions that have been made out here on the road.
Petrol stations have fascinated me for a long time. I’ve started calling them 'relief stations'. They’re places to pause—to take a break, stretch, grab food, use the bathroom, and reset. They offer a chance to change the pace, reread the map, reassess the direction, and decide how to move forward. Every journey needs these moments: to stop, think, and feel—or maybe just one of those. And then, to move again. Sometimes you need to think. Sometimes you need to feel". - Harley Manifold