Q&A with Wayne Lennox Miles

Darwin artist Wayne Lennox Miles has been creating art for over 30 years. OTL had a chat with Wayne about his work, following the release of his newest coffee table book Gangs Inc.

You’re a Darwin-born photographic artist, furniture maker, interior designer, sculptor, and storyteller. Where has your craft taken you?

In the early days, my photo-journalism work saw me travelling to many exotic locations across the globe. Following that, I teamed up with Mr Peter Torr and from there we went on to design and make one-off pieces of 'up-cycled' furniture – sculptural like and fashioned mostly from old wooden boats. We have since had the privilege of selling the furniture and art to clients right around the world. Our largest piece of art to date is numerous installations at the Darwin Airport on crocodiles.

What has been the highlight of your career thus far?

The highlight of my career is sitting down with the likes of many incredible characters – the rock star Peter Gabriel, Nelson Mandela, bungy jump king AJ Hackett and snapping Princess Diana with a crocodile in her hand. I've been so fortunate in life to hang out with some incredible human beings.

Where do you draw your inspiration? Is there a particular art style you’re more drawn to?

I wouldn't say I am really drawn to any one style because I draw inspiration from all art forms, especially those offered up by nature. But if you ask me is there any artists I really admire it would have to be the artworks of Mr Peter Beard and the photo work of Helmut Newton.

You’ve just released a coffee table book titled Gangs Inc., how does it feel to have so much of your work compiled into one 400-page publication?

There're around 2000 images in the book and each page tells a story. The layouts and the writing took us five solid years – I must have nearly driven the team mad. My team and I were absolutely exhausted but I promised all those characters I'd see it through to the end.

What’s next for Wayne Lennox Miles?

I've just finished doing three months travelling Europe and Asia promoting the book and now I'm really exhausted. There is talk of me doing a body of work on all the old characters of the North – the old shooters, hunters and bushmen that I have photographed for over 20 years – stay tuned in another five or so years! In the meantime, I will keep creating and selling my art.

Click here to find out more about Wayne and his art. Or if you'd like to find out more about his new book Gangs Inc., you can click here.