gash: out now
- Miles Astray
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
also: winning the lottery ten times, and getting some love from some 20 million art lovers
Are you ready to unwind, leave another year behind? Not me, not so much. I'm getting ready for whatever the opposite is: wind? grind? It’s that time of the year when I wrap it all up, and then gift wrap some. Read on for the latest news and newest shop arrivals to sweeten the season. Like my new collection, gash:
I might care more about seeing the world than the world seeing me, but then again, I did start and finish this sentence with I. See me, I beg, when no one is watching. gash is a departure—round trip, to be sure—a little vacation from my everyday artistic approach of capturing firm realities.
Pointing the lens inward this time, it must have shattered though, and the shards cut me good. gash is an intimate curatorial introspection, a deeply personal investigation that could only ever arrive at a widely universal conclusion: that we’re all the same at heart, maybe not facing the same fears, but facing fears, maybe not wanting the same things, but wanting things. Running your fingers along that gash like a map, you might get somewhere or you might get infected. There is no need for any particular arrival. These images are the stuff that dreams are made of. Not day dreams, but night dreams and fever dreams. The subconscious speaking truths—vague only the morning after, incoherent only when scrutinized by day. Neglected fears, beasts that belong, fragmented landscapes, soulscapes, and escapes. As long as you don’t try to make sense of such feelings, they work perfectly fine. 11 images. A number that numerologists count among the most significant, conjuring associations of intuition, growth, and a cathartic reconciliation with the subconscious.
representing reality with new FLAMINGONE merch
Launched this summer, FLAMINGONE merch has landed like a bomb, and I couldn’t be happier to see so many people carrying that unlikely hero on their tees, hoodies, backpacks, and whatnots to represent reality wherever they go. Organic. Renewable. Circular. I just added some new items for you to check out. Stock is limited and shipping deadlines for the holidays are approaching fast, so hurry, hurry, hurry:
competing against 656.738 images and then some
Participating in large photo competitions isn’t unlike playing the lottery. If you compete against hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of pictures—many of them just as outstanding as the next—luck is perhaps the biggest factor. But I’m starting to believe that it’s not all luck, having hit the jackpot more than 10 times this year, leading to prizes, publications, and exhibitions, from a community showcase in Toronto to the World Expo in Osaka.
At the world’s largest photo contest, two of my images received honors among 656.738 submissions, and as a finalist at the famous Nikon Wildlife Comedy Awards, I’m still in the running for a victory that is as unlikely as the competition is strong and hilarious. Fingers crossed.
Here's the full rundown:
G5050 x Royal Society of Arts | Expo 2025, Osaka
Organized by Global 50/50 in cooperation with the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), human meteor was on display at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka as part of the exhibition This is Gender: Photography on the Frontlines of Justice.
Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards | Oxo Gallery | London
Still in the running for the winning title, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be among the finalists of the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards! According to Nikon, it’s “a world renowned award, reaching billions of people and carrying a vital conservation message at its core.” It’s amazing to see my work featured all over, from the Smithsonian Magazine to Nat Geo! Come check out the exhibition in London, starting December 10.
CPPA x SeeingHappy | The Bentway | Toronto
Three of my works will be part of a Community Showcase at the Bentway in Toronto later this month, organized by the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and SeeingHappy. Do stop by!
Cewe Photo Award | Germany
Competing against 656.738 submissions at the world's largest photo competition, I ended up among the finalists in the categories Nature & Wildlife and Animals with my images a ripe life and OSTRETCH.
IAPB World Sight Day | UK
For this year's World Sight Day, organized by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, my picture EYEVERSITY was shortlisted.
Exhibit Around photo book + Common Grounds exhibition
My work LUCID DREAM, and one of my all-time-favorites, SILLY LOVE, are now featured in the Mythography V volume, a photography book published by Exhibit Around. In addition, they were exhibited at Magazzino 26 Museum in Trieste throughout September. SILLY LOVE will also be part of Common Grounds, a mixed-media exhibition at TPS Gallery in London in December.
Canticle of the Creatures exhibition and book
DEATH BIRTHING LIFE has been included in the photographic volume Canticle of the Creatures by Exhibit Around, and was on display at Palazzo Frumentario in Assisi and the Palazzo Gopcevich Museum in Trieste throughout September and October.
GHHIN x Earth Journalism Network Photo Contest
My photo sun sails won the Heat Resilience Strategies category at the Extreme Heat Photo Contest, organized by the Global Heat Health Information Network and the Earth Journalism Network. It was subsequently featured in a new governance framework backed by the United Nations bodies WMO and UNDRR. Read on for more on that.
Hintology Magazine, issue #3
Several of my works will be featured in the upcoming issue of Hintology Magazine, published in Canada.
COP30, The Guardian, and 20 million art fans
I'm very honored that my work has been elected to be featured in the new GHHIN - WMO - UNDRR Extreme Heat Risk Governance Framework and Toolkit, which just launched at a high-level side event of the 2025 UN Climate Conference, COP30.
more on that
It is a tremendous honor to be included in such an important framework directed at “leaders and practitioners everywhere,” providing “practical guidance to strengthen decision-making and coordination on extreme heat,” offering “tools for assessing governance maturity, enhancing heat action planning, and supporting cross-sectoral implementation.”
The Guardian recently used FLAMINGONE for a marketing campaign, but I'm only allowed to show you that one little frame from the clip without violating usage agreements, and I got no time for jail, or worse, an email exchange. That bird went somewhat viral again this summer and raked in millions of likes, most notably on the world's largest art page @art_dailydose with its 20+ million followers.
latest content
So long,
Miles