macy byfield

DIRECTOR. visual artist. documentary storyteller.

sEE MY WORK

01

The pressure pot that brewed during the UK lockdown has recently exploded the form of increasing protests and demonstrations across the country. Global data tells a similar story: unrest is on the rise, and has been for quite some time…

‘We Have(n’t) Been Here Before' is a five screen Artist Documentary that explores how ageing, technology and collective memory influence our perspectives on activism.

AWARDS

Best Sound, Best Editing

Honourable mention: Best Gallery Installation

Manchester School of Art Filmmaking Awards 2022

SODA Future Storytelling Award

School of Digital Art Degree Show Awards 2022

Installation at SODA Degree Show 2022

This project was composed of archive footage and interviews from participants aged 21 to 86.

I would like to give a special thanks to the North West Film Archives, Prelinger Archives and all participants ​involved.

Exhibition Zine

02

An experimental short exploring the narrator's relationship with their mental health through the metaphor of gardening.

'Bad Flowers' was made during lockdown as a student at Manchester School of Art.

Music by Chloe Howard & Annabel Whittle

AWARDS

Runner Up 'Best Student Short'

NAHEMI x KODAK Eat Our Shorts Festival 2021

03

A visual poem that celebrates the legacy of hair as a lasting connection to our ancestors in the absence of recorded history.

Student film in response to the brief 'Hidden Histories', created in lockdown 2020.

04

An ongoing mixed media project inspired by reflections of my childhood experiences in Oxfordshire. Exploring shifting relationships between identity and place, where the symbols that once represented 'home' now take on new, hostile connotations.

was this body ever meant for this space?

"oh, england. my lionheart."

HOW Sad THE WHOLE THING IS,

to see how much i've changed,

when i realise:

it doesn't feel like home,

anymore.

salvation army.

cub scouts.

pub.

would fate have had it some other way?

ABOUT ME

I'm Macy, an interdisciplinary artist and researcher from Oxfordshire.

Specialising in Artist Documentary Film, I’m passionate about the authentic ​representation of my subjects and experimenting with immersive formats to ​create layered polyvocal narratives. The ‘whole’ story never emenates from one ​voice alone, I’m therefore drawn to community focused and collaborative ​filmmaking methods in my practice.

I also just really really love using archive footage. Can't resist it. lol.

I hold a BA in Filmmaking from Manchester School of Art and currently support ​production at one of the UK’s most adventurous immersive artists’ groups, Blast ​Theory.

In 2024, I was selected for We Are Parable’s development scheme in partnership ​with Channel 4 & Sony Productions. I have also previously worked with The ​Southbank Centre, Factory International, Apple, Pulse Films, BBC New Creatives ​and Empress Films.