Born and lives in Sydney, Australia. David Manley studied at the University of New South Wales Art and Design majoring in photo-media and graduating in 2012 with 1st Class Honours. He holds a PhD in Fine Arts and in 2015 completed a Masters of Fine Arts by Research. He was also a finalist in the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2022 Bowness Photography Prize and the 2014 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award. In 2012 he was a winner of the coveted Head On Photographic Portrait Prize. Manley was also one of sixteen Australian artists selected for the publication Hijacked III Contemporary Photography from Australia and the UK. His work has been published in a number of journals and publication including Deep Ends The JG Ballard Anthology, 2016 and 2019 and his work Ambivalent Structures was published by Emblem Books in 2014.

Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Hijacked III
 Installation view