Max Alexander is an artist, play worker and thinker. Max’s work centres play and connection with a particular focus on autistic, neurodivergent and disabled experiences. Max creates spaces for play using a mix of his skills as a maker, visual artist, writer, facilitator, communicator and play worker. These spaces might be short quiet pockets of time shared between just two people in a living room, in a park under some trees or in a nondescript room in a day centre playing with strange sounds, exploring tactile sensations, or engaging in slapstick repetitive imaginative play. They might be bigger installations with playable sculptures, dens, big bodily movement and raucous ever evolving games. They will often exist somewhere in between, but regardless of scale, time and who is in the room they tend to hold space for silliness and sincerity in equal regard.
As an autistic artist Max’s lived experience is inextricable from this work. Max’s experience informs an approach to creating and facilitating participatory work which views care, access and de-pathologisation as essential, urgent and joyful fundamental elements. Max is passionate about access to play, artistic and cultural experience for all and believes that autistic individuals should be creators of their own culture and not simply consumers of neurotypical culture as is so often the case. Finding ways to communicate, advocate and educate around autistic, disabled and neurodivergent inclusion is a further key element of Max’s work.
Max has over ten years experience working with and alongside disabled and/or neurodivergent individuals across school, playground, social care and community settings. As well as taking a creative and facilitation role Max also provides training and consultancy working with practitioners across arts, play and educational sectors aiming to find accessible and creative ways to share his experience and approach. Working in an open and reflective way is essential for Max and sharing practice and resources online through a mix of writing and creating visuals is a way of doing this. The Play Radical blog and website is one platform for this.
Max is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland where he likes to hang out with trees and rocks, climb things and make drawings.
Play Radical 