The map-maker stayed in the territory.
Lee Powell writes, builds and paints. Three practices, one preoccupation: the systems people live inside, what happens when one stops fitting, and what gets built next.
The writing comes in two kinds. The field guides, ManOS, Vacancy and Stop Feeding the System, map the systems people find themselves inside before they can see them. The novels, LOADED: An Archive, The God Protocol and DAY NINE, open doors out of the world entirely. A fourth novel, The Witness Layer, is in progress.
The build work is with men. ManOS is an operating system for the man himself: how a man works emotionally, mentally, relationally and professionally, written down and run daily, so that what he becomes next is chosen rather than inherited.
The building started in software. He wrote document software used by writers worldwide, including Scrivener and Scapple for Windows, built IBM's first online retail platform, and delivered systems inside banks, exchanges and government agencies. He holds an MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Oxford.
The paintings work the same seam as the books: a real structure built as an underlayer, buried under paint, then cut back until it shows through. Originals and a small number of prints sit in private collections in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and are available by inquiry. He paints one-off automotive works under the name Keny. See the work →
He lives in Melbourne. He publishes under ManOS Group Pty Ltd.
The nonfiction is written from inside the rooms it maps. The fiction is where he goes to get out of them. The paintings are what he found there.