About me

I enjoy function and public utility. The weave between practical and beauty. A stone staircase with slowly rounded edges, curved by generations of feet stepping into a library.

What appeals is not the staircase when first laid, but what it becomes through intentional use over time. The way the mind builds capacity through meditation, not via one big insight but through practice sustained across years. There is the awareness of this moment, and there is the awareness of continuity. Both matter.

My work has moved through forms that share this quality: creating spaces where something can emerge through attention and use.

I started at the National Gallery of Victoria as a Young Ambassador, learning to make art accessible to young people. Then photography — fifteen years helping people tell visual stories through Max Milne Photography, working with clients from Interview Magazine to Qantas and winning awards for portraiture. I learned to notice what lives in the frame and what breathes just outside it.

From 2015 to 2020, I built Studio Brunswick — three photography studios designed for hire. Spaces where others could make their work. During those years, I toured with performance art like The SBSB and VOICE, made short films, taught photography at Holmesglen TAFE.

Throughout, I spent time in Buddhist monasteries — twelve months total across Thailand, India, and Australia. I facilitated meditation groups at Melbourne Buddhist Centre, taught mindfulness, sat in silence. I learned to notice, to be present, to hold space.

Then my attention turned to counselling. I worked as a student counsellor at Doncaster Secondary College and Wellbeing Counsellor at CamCare, completed a Master of Counselling at Swinburne, trained in art therapy and mindfulness teaching.

Now I work at Talk. Art. Therapy., helping people build capacity for awareness — to notice patterns, to hold what’s difficult, to choose what matters. The work happens through sustained attention, not sudden transformation. Like the stone stairs worn smooth, like the meditation practice built over years. Something grows through the continuity of showing up.

Want to know more about what that looks like?
Projects | What I’m up to now | cv

Awards:

Photography
Winner, BSG National Photographic Prize (2011)
Finalist, Head On Portrait Prize (2012)
Co-winner, Faces of Sydney Festival Competition (2017)

Performance
Greenroom Award – Outstanding Production, Creative Agency for Audience (2012)

Places to find me:

Instagram: @maxmilne
Bluesky: @maxmilne
Youtube: @maxmilne-aus
E: max @ maxmilne.com