Early Life
Ayres was born in Macau, China. His mother was a nightclub singer who committed suicide in 1972, when Ayres was 11 years old. Before her death, his mother married an Australian sailor and migrated with her family to Perth, Western Australia in 1964. Ayres' stepfather died of a heart attack three years after the death of his wife, and two days before he was due to remarry. Ayres and his older sister briefly lived with their stepfather's former fiancee, before being placed in the care of Ayres' history teacher. They then moved to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory with their guardian, whom Ayres' sister later married. Ayres' 2007 film The Home Song Stories is loosely based on this early period of his life.
Ayres studied photography and printmaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, before working as an exhibition curator. He later completed postgraduate studies in film and video at the Swinburne Film and Television School (now the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film and Television) in Melbourne, Victoria.
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