"Harris has explored the ideas of resolution, performance and interactivity since the start of his art practice. Ice Angel (2012, 2015) comprises a gridded matrix of pixelated low-resolution lights that are fragmented and hazy. Lights that are temporarily imprinted on the backdrop disappear like snowflakes melting on the ground. Crucially, in this piece, the formation of the self is constructed through the perception of others. Harris’s artwork lets the participant physically embody the form of an angel but does not allow them to see themselves in the act. The experience has been designed with a ‘memory’, so that the characteristics of each set of wings are specific to the individual, thus solidifying the feeling of distinctive embodiment. As a child, the making of snow angels is rarely done for solitary reasons: the shadow left in the snow becomes a marker for others to witness the act of creation. A fundamental part of this expression is the requirement that others see it. As the eighteenth-century philosopher George Berkeley famously stated: esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived)."

Extract from essay by Sunny Cheung