There goes your fortune. Photograph

Ryley Clarke is an emerging artist, photographer and filmmaker living and working in Naarm, Melbourne, Australia. Ryley weaves together cinematic, affective, and experimental narratives. Illuminating stories of the lived experience, his practice shines light on phenomena that influences the human condition. Through his storytelling, Ryley examines the spirit of our existence, seeking to interpret a way of life that surrounds us. Using the camera to mediate and to draw closer, he engages with the world through a personal and lyrical documentary lens. In his practice, he delves into the relationship between photography and cinema to examine the emotionality and relational forms of life, society, and the human experience. Ryley’s latest projects focus on the experiences of growing up in a dystopian society and the journey of restoring and leaving behind a childhood home. His work grapples with themes of coming of age, dystopian futures, environment, the search for self-identity and familial spaces. In 2023, Ryley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) from RMIT University. His work has been exhibited at RMIT’s First Site Gallery, FortyFiveDownstairs, and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. He has published his work in the British Journal of Photography, Photo Collective and Fresh Eyes. Ryley’s photographs has been recognised in multiple awards, and is the recipient of the Baillot & Balfour Endowment Award and the People’s Choice Award for the Geelong 2024 Photographic Portrait Prize.