Vincent Ward is a New Zealand artist and award-winning, internationally recognized filmmaker.  He is known for his ability to convey powerful emotional and psychological-charged experiences, often delving into themes of transformation, the human condition, and the intersection of spirituality and reality.

In his major body of work Palimpsest, Ward “transforms the human form into monumental landforms; flesh metamorphosises into deserts and reefs. Here, the body is rendered liminal by a shimmer of colour; there, water drips languidly from hair and onto skin. A muscled upper back segues into a cliff face, tectonic and alive.” ¹

Ward creates psychologically and emotionally evocative metaphorical landscapes, deeply rooted in personal experience, the past, and memory. His works function as palimpsests, where multiple layers have been placed and erased over time, leaving faint traces that reveal layers of meaning, transformation, and historical narratives beneath the surface.

"Ward's ongoing concerns with metamorphosis, falling, light, fear, memory, darkness and the transformative moment have led him to create a series of vast, physically imposing works that delve into other-worldly landscapes and transcendent states, to evocations of loss, redemption and unconscious realms.” ²

In 2012 a high-quality large format art book titled Inhale/Exhale was published by Ron Sang Publishing. The book, with essays written by Andrew Clifford and Roger Horrocks, features images of Ward’s inter-disciplinary artworks from his major exhibitions Vincent Ward: Breath—the Fleeting Intensity of Life at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and simultaneous exhibitions Inhale/Exhale at the Gus Fisher Gallery and the Arts House Trust.

Ward has earned international critical acclaim and festival attention, with works such as Vigil, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, and Map of the Human Heart officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival. What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams, was nominated for two Academy Awards and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. His international practice remains at the forefront of innovation, and in 2007, he received the New Zealand Order of Merit (NZOM) for his services to film. In 2011, Michael Wiese Productions published Making the Transformational Moment in Film - Unleashing the power of the Image with the Films of Vincent Ward by Dan Fleming.

Ward has exhibited widely since 2012 including major exhibitions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Gus Fisher Gallery and the Arts House Trust. He was the first New Zealander to participate in the Shanghai Biennale (2012), and exhibited in the solo pavilion, as a guest of renowned Chinese video artist and curator, Qiu Zhijie.