Mark Hislop

Mark Hislop (b. 1962)

Artist’s statement

My drawing/painting-based practice references photographic language as a starting point to explore visual perception, history and representation. Moving between a digital source and forms of drawing and painting brings with it a slippage of meaning that I see as a process of exchange. Using images sourced from found photography, digital archives and CCTV footage the intention of this work is to register how unintended and incidental affects of reproduction can become active agents in developing new meaning.

I live and work in Melbourne, Australia and I have completed a Master of Art at Chelsea School of Art and Design, London. I have received numerous scholarships and grants and my work has been exhibited in Australia, UK, USA and acquired for a number of public collections in Australia.


The exchange of materials, objects and ideas will be the conceptual starting point of my project at HIAP. A gesture involving the extraction and transportation of a small circular disc from my studio wall in Melbourne—to be installed in the HIAP studio—will begin an examination of exchange as a strategy for social and cultural connections. This idea will be extended through a research component with the aim of building a foundation based on historical sources of technical and artistic innovation.