Max Miechowski

A Big Fat Sky

Growing up in Britain, none of us were ever more than 70 miles from the sea; the quirky coastal towns, arcades and candy floss, naff looking rides and fish and chips. A brave swim in the cold and murky waters if we fancied it. When I was a kid we would always head for the east coast. Mostly to Skegness, but sometimes Norfolk or Yorkshire. Recently, I have found myself going back. Taking long trips along the country’s edge, exploring the towns and landscapes overlooking the North Sea. Surprisingly, these trips have given me the same sense of fascination that I felt as a child - an escape from the city, and an opportunity to find beauty in scenes that seem so familiar to all of us. Often it has felt like stepping back in time, to an atmosphere and pace that feels different to what I’ve grown used to whilst living in London. A Big Fat Sky is a body of work exploring the shifting landscapes of the British East Coast. Through contrasting images of beach scenes, resort details and industrial silhouettes, the work documents the subtle complexities of life at the country’s edge.

Photographer

Max Miechowski

Max Miechowski (b.1989) is a photographer based in London. Predominantly making images within his immediate community and across the United Kingdom, his work offers insight into overlooked yet everyday aspects of modern Britain. His practice, which is rooted in portraiture, is identifiable by its sensitivity and optimism. Miechowski’s images elevate his subjects, employing a strong graphic vision to explore the ways that people and space influence one another, and ultimately emphasise the reciprocal relationship between the individual, the local community and their unique culture.

Miechowski’s art practice largely involves exploring his chosen environment on foot, be that of his borough, the local park, or the length of the British east coast. Through his honest approach to photographing the people he encounters, Miechowski’s images are both a collaborative celebration of community and a reflection on his role within it. Using analogue techniques and a careful eye for composition, both his landscape and portrait photographs are rendered in rich and vivid colour, and a soft light that is rarely seen within the British documentary tradition.

His images have been exhibited internationally in places such as Paris Photo Fair, Photo London, and the The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. He was selected as one of LensCulture’s Emerging Talents for 2019, was included in the Creative Review Photography Annual in 2018, and has had consecutive winning images in British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain. He has been featured in, and made work for, a wide selection of publications and clients including M Magazine, Financial Times, Royal Academy Of Art, The Guardian, British Journal of Photography and It’s Nice That.

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