Masks: Part 2

Mike Miller’s most recent images chart new territory for the photographer. With the exception of Him shown above, the masked figures are depicted in dark interiors penetrated by splinters of light from the rising sun like Oucasts 2 below.

At first glance, MIller’s masked figures may appear threatening—well, maybe at second and third glances, too—but there is also a profound sense of isolation reminiscent of Mary Shelley’s portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster as an unwilling outcast— belonging neither to the living or the dead, condemned to remain alone and misunderstood in the world. The masked figure in First Light below leans tentatively against the windowsill. He appears overcome by the streaming sunlight, his right arm hidden under his left, his hand clenched in a fist, as if he were in pain.

Miller composes his pictures like a set designer. Location and time of day are important. Even the masked figures are simply props in the final photograph like Quasimodo Redux below. The masked man looks menacingly down from the banister as the sun bursts into the space washing everything in white light.

Mike Miller is on a journey of self-discovery. These new images may evoke our worst nightmares, but they speak volumes about the human condition in the twenty-first century. —Stephen Newton
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From Writer to Filmmaker and Back Again

Mike Miller: Man Behind The Mask