PJ Harvey - A Perfect Day Elise

What this video is

Released in September 1998 as the lead single from 'Is This Desire?', PJ Harvey's fourth studio album, 'A Perfect Day Elise' arrived during a pivotal moment in UK alternative rock when artists were pushing back against the polished Britpop mainstream. The video, helmed by longtime visual collaborator Maria Mochnacz, exemplifies the art-school, anti-commercial aesthetic that defined Harvey's visual identity across…

Why it matters

A landmark document of late-1990s UK alternative rock's visual culture, this video exemplifies the auteur-director-as-creative-partner model that Mochnacz and Harvey pioneered across nearly a decade of collaboration. It stands as evidence of how independent female artists in the 1990s used music…

The director

Maria Mochnacz is a British photographer and music video director, trained in fine arts, best known for her long-term creative collaboration with PJ Harvey beginning in 1991. She directed approximately 12 music videos for Harvey between 1992 and 1998, and…