WORK OF THE WEEK: David Ward, I felt my life in both my hands, 2024-5

David Ward
I felt my life with both my hands I, II & III
2024 – 25
Archival ink print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper
89.5 x 112 cm
35 ¼ x 44 ⅛ in.
Edition 1 of 3 plus 1 AP

Light is a thread that runs consistently through David Ward's work and it plays a prominent part in these archival prints. Ward touches on associations of childhood memories - playing with light, using your hands to create shadow images evoking the fantasy of taking flight. Printed on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, Ward achieves rich, velvet blacks to contrast the light of the images. I felt my life with both my hands comes from an Emily Dickinson poem of the same title.

- Emily Dickinson, I felt my life with both my hands, poem 357

David Ward (b. 1951) attended Wolverhampton School of Art (1968 – 69) and Winchester School of Art (1969 – 1973). He has been artist-in-residence at King’s College, Cambridge, Harvard University, Durham Cathedral and was a Research Fellow at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

His work is represented in a number of public collections including Tate, The National Portrait Gallery, Arts Council England, the Fogg Museum at Harvard Art Museums and the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney. He has curated exhibitions, film programmes and events including co-selecting The British Art Show 3 in 1990 and more recently, co-curating the exhibition Seeing Round Corners at Turner Contemporary, Margate in 2016.

Ward writes and has taught widely, including at Goldsmiths College, London (1987-95), Harvard University (1994), Glasgow School of Art (1995-97), the Architectural Association, London (1998-2005) and at the Department of Architecture, Westminster University, London (1998-2005). He continues to lecture occasionally and to contribute to educational events.