Miska Draskoczy aims to turn concepts of nature photography on their head by finding the beautiful in what most consider to be a man-made environmental catastrophe: the Gowanus Canal and surrounding industrial neighborhood. "In a world that offers sterile landscape architecture as an outlet to nature," says the artist, "our urban communities grapple with how to connect with the primeval. If only we adjust our perception of what is nature and wild around us, a fascinating ecosystem can be found in the fringes of our city where chaos and decay conspire to produce a new type of wild beauty."
Photographer and director Miska Draskoczy has pursued diverse projects throughout his career such as co-founding a conceptual arts organization purporting to be funded by NATO, writing and directing surreal sci-fi films, and creating a documentary web series about objects in people's homes. Currently focusing on photography, his urban wilderness series Gowanus Wild was featured in THE FENCE at PHOTOVILLE 2013 in Brooklyn, NY and his first solo show will open in February 2014 at the Vermont Center for Photography. In addition to his personal projects Miska works as a director, editor, and animator through his production company snow23 and is an avid rock and ice climber.