MAP6 Collective - The Milton Keynes Project

Postcards from Milton Keynes by Richard Chivers

We are really pleased to introduce the latest project from the MAP6 photography collective. MAP6 was established in 2011 and each year creates a body of work around a central theme or geographical location. Working together on the group project, the result is both individually diverse and yet unified by the joint project theme and the shared curiosity within the collective for exploring the complex relationships between people and place.

In 2017, having previously worked on The Moscow Project, The Home Project and The Lithuanian Project, the collective have turned their shared attention to Milton Keynes, to coincide with the city's 50th birthday and in order to capture its geography, people, structure and architecture. Milton Keynes was born out of a visionary plan - a garden city planned around a rigid grid; a low green lush place, planned for the car and with self-contained neighbourhoods at its core.

MK Millenials by Heather Shuker

The Milton Keynes Project aims to ask the essential questions about whether or not Milton Keynes was a success, how Milton Keynes is understood now by those who live there, and whether or not an artificially developed new town can have a genuine culture. Themes within the project and explored through the photographs include portraits of those who live and work in Milton Keynes, the relationship between the car and the landscape, and a celebration of the ambiguous, original and visionary architecture to be found there.

We have very pleased to be able to share some of the images from the project here on the Elsewhere blog, and you can find out more about The Milton Keynes Project and the other work of the MAP6 Collective on their website.