Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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in life. He admits that “he knew nothing” about Jewish traditions until he went to Los
Angeles. This has a large Jewish community and he found it interesting to come into
contact with what he describes as “the Jewish mystical tradition – in terms of the
Kabbalah” through people in the film industry, like Barbra Streisand. 265
A final aspect of his background that emerges later in his work, is the strong
introspective strain, which he acknowledges in Edge of the Earth when he refers to
himself as a “small intense child on a farm by himself”. 266 One interesting point arising
from this comment is that Ward’s perception of himself seems to be that he was almost
an only child. The book makes a great deal of reference to Ward’s parents but little
direct reference to his siblings, a fact that did not pass unnoticed by his sister, Ingrid.
While she acknowledges that “Vincent had quite a different childhood from the rest of
us just because of his age”, she clearly feels that she and her other siblings played a
more important role in Ward’s childhood then his book suggests. 267 One reason for this
gap in the book may have been that his brother and sisters have differing perceptions of
their parents and of their childhood and Ward may have seen these as conflicting with
his own perceptions. Another reason is that Ward’s sense of himself as an imaginative
loner is a Romantic notion, in line with his adult role as artist and auteur.
Ward’s Art School Training
While his family background is one factor in the formation of Ward’s aesthetic, his
early education and training as an artist and film-maker also appear to have had some
influence on his later interests as a film-maker. This section of the chapter will discuss
the director’s training at Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, and
will examine in detail the degree programme he completed, drawing on his own
memories of his experiences as a student as well as those of some of his fellow-students
and his lecturer.
In 1974, after completing the seventh form at Kuranui College, Ward enrolled at Ilam.
Initially, he completed an Intermediate year, during which he studied painting,
sculpture, graphic design, and engraving, but instead of majoring in painting, as he had
originally intended, he decided to major in filmmaking. Ilam was ahead of its time in
265 Lynette Read, interview with Vincent Ward, 11 December 1997.
266 Ward, Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes 69.
267 Lynette Read, interview with Ingrid Ward, 15 April 1999.