Michael McMillan

{{short description|British playwright, artist, curator and educator (born 1962)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Michael McMillan

| image =

| alt =

| caption = McMillan at the British Library, February 2016

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1962}}

| birth_place = High Wycombe, UK

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| alma_mater = Sussex University
Central Saint Martins

| occupation = Playwright, artist/curator

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works = The West Indian Front Room

}}

Michael McMillan (born 1962)[http://www.uprising-art.com/en/portfolio/michael-mcmillan-st-vincent-uk/ "Michael McMillan | St. Vincent – UK], Uprising Art. is a British playwright, artist, curator and educator, born in England to parents who were migrants from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).[http://www.peckhamplatform.com/artists/michael-mcmillan "Artists: Michael McMillan"], Peckham Platform. As an academic, he focuses his research on "the creative process, ethnography, oral histories, material culture and performativity". He is the author of several plays, and as an artist his first installation, The West Indian Front Room, was exhibited at the Geffrye Museum in 2005, going on to inspire a 2007 BBC Four documentary Tales from the Front Room, a website,{{cite press release |url=http://www.iniva.org/press/2007/front_room |title=Iniva launches The Front Room website |publisher=InIVA |date=15 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210112152/http://www.iniva.org/press/2007/front_room |archive-date=10 December 2007}}[http://www.thefrontroom.org.uk/ The Front Room] interactive website. a 2009 book, The Front Room: Migrant Aesthetics in the Home, and various international commissions, such as Van Huis Uit: The Living Room of Migrants in the Netherlands (Imagine IC, Amsterdam, and Netherlands Tour, 2007–08)Michael McMillan, [http://www.iniva.net/frontroom/media/files/essays/VHU_GuidedTalk.pdf "Van Huis Uit/That’s the way we do it…!: The Living Room of Migrants in The Netherlands"]. Guided Talk, April 2007. and A Living Room Surrounded by Salt (IBB, Curaçao, 2008). A more recent installation of the Walter Rodney Bookshop featured as part of the 2015 exhibition No Colour Bar at the Guildhall Art Gallery.

McMillan has said of the range of his work: "I was a painter before I was a playwright/dramatist and through making live art pieces and writing critically about performance, photography, visual arts culture, I have come home in a sense to fine arts, through making mixed-media installations, which given my interest in performativity background can be seen also as theatre sets. My work and practice is often interdisciplinary using mixed media, installations and performance."

Life and career

Michael McMillan was born in 1962 in High Wycombe, UK, of Caribbean migrant heritage; as he has said, "Both my parents came from St Vincent & the Grenadines and ... were 'arrivants', to use Edward Kamau Brathwaite's term, from colonies where they were imbued with English culture."[http://www.wasafiri.org/pages/news_01/news_item.asp?News_01ID=263 "Michael McMillan reviews - Migrations: Journeys into British Art - Tate Britain 31 Jan - 12 Aug 2012" (biographical note)], Wasafiri, 7 March 2012. Given this background, he has noted: "I grew up with learning three languages: the creole spoken by my parents as a fusion of an English lexicon and an African grammar; the Jamaican English spoken on the streets of Hackney and around London and the London English spoken at school."Michael McMillan, [http://www.ericascourti.com/soundingperformance/michael_mcmillan.html "Oral Histories in an Ethnographic Context"], Sounding Performance, November 2007. He won an essay competition, run by Len Garrison's ACER (Afro-Caribbean Education Resource),Mike Phillips, [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/feb/28/guardianobituaries.highereducation "Obituary: Len Garrison - Recording the history of black Britons for future generations"], The Guardian, 28 February 2003. and after going to FESTAC 77 (the Second World Festival of African Arts and Culture), he wrote his play The School Leaver (1978), which was produced at the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers' Festival.[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/playwrights/mcmillan-michael "Michael McMillan"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.

McMillan read sociology and African and Asian studies at Sussex University, graduating in 1984,[http://www.uprising-art.com/en/portfolio/michael-mcmillan-st-vincent-uk/ "Michael McMillan | St. Vincent – UK"], Uprising Art, 12 April 2012. and then earned an MA degree in Independent Film & Video from Central Saint Martins, London, in 1991.[http://www.arts.ac.uk/media/arts/about-ual/diversity/documents/En-Route-Michael-McMillan.pdf "CSM Alumnus Michael McMillan"], en>route, UAL. From 2000, he was a Royal Literary Fund Writing FellowFellows: [http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/michael-mcmillan/ "Michael McMillan, Non-fiction writer, Playwright"], Royal Literary Fund. at the London College of Communication and went on to become, since 2003, a Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of the Arts London (UAL), and a researcher and Associate Lecturer at the London College of Fashion (LCF), teaching predominantly Cultural & Historical Studies. He was awarded a practice-based Arts Doctorate from Middlesex University in 2010.[http://www.iniva.org/library/news/clothes_cloth_and_culture_group_sept_2014 "Clothes, Cloth and Culture Group: 'Saga Bwoys' and Bedouin Women"], InIVA, 25 September 2014.[http://placeinternational.org/mcmillan.htm "Associate Member, Dr Michael McMillan"], PLaCE (UK). In 2010–11, he was Arts in Health & Well Being artist-in-residence in North Wales.

= Writing =

McMillan's interest in oral history and the stories of first-generation Caribbean migrants is reflected in early writings such as Brother to Brother (1996) and The Black Boy Pub & Other Stories (1997), which used recordings of interviews done during a year's residence in High Wycombe,Reva Klein, [https://www.tes.com/article.aspx?storycode=56121 "No place like home"], TES, 11 May 2008. where many of those arriving in particular from SVG had settled.Michael McMillan, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EQkeAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22michael+mcmillan%22+born+st+vincent&pg=PA26 "De Mudder Tongue: Oral History Work as an Arts Practice"], in Matthew Partington and Linda Sandino (eds), Oral History in the Visual Arts, A & C Black, 2013 (pp. 25–33), p. 26.Natricia Duncan, [http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/caribbean-island-changed-uk-town "The Caribbean Island That Changed A UK Town — How people from St Vincent and the Grenadines transformed life in High Wycombe"], The Voice, 28 July 2013. As a dramatist, he has had work performed and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Channel 4, BBC Radio 4, and in venues across the UK.[http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/mcmillan-michael.html Michael McMillan] at Doollee.com. His play The School Leaver was published by the Black Ink Collective in 1978, when McMillan was 16 years old, and was reprinted several times.Desrie Thomson-George, [https://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/legacy-black-ink-426351 "The legacy of Black Ink"], The Bookseller, 7 November 2016. His other plays include Master Juba (2006), Babel Junction (2006), and a new translation of Bertholt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan,[http://transnational.arts.ac.uk/transnational_static/events/125-train-open-lecture-michael-mcmillan-introduced-by-carol-tulloch-the-kitchen-memory-and-food-cultures-.html "TrAIN Open Lecture: Michael McMillan | Introduced by Carol Tulloch | THE KITCHEN: MEMORY AND FOOD CULTURES "], TrAIN, May 2011. set in Jamaica in the 1980s.

McMillan has written a number of essays and articles in national and international publications, and has presented papers at conferences and symposiums in the UK, Europe, Canada, USA, Caribbean and Brazil, including as keynote speaker at the 2006 "Islands in Between" Conference on Language, Literature & History of the Eastern Caribbean (University of the West Indies, School of Continuing Studies, St. Vincent & the Grenadines).

= Installations =

Alongside teaching, McMillan has also worked on mixed-media exhibitions and publications. His first installation, The West Indian Front Room (he uses "the term 'West Indian' as it refers to a particular moment of post-World War II Caribbean migration to England and the wider Diaspora"),Clelia Coussonnet, [http://blog.uprising-art.com/en/exclusive-interview-michael-mcmillan-2/ "Exclusive Interview: Michael McMillan – in the framework of the exhibition Who More Sci-Fi than Us" (May 2012)], Uprising Art, 2 July 2012. drew on memories of the domestic setting created by his parents and their like after they migrated to Britain, featuring a recreation of a typical front room of the 1970s to raise "questions about the constructions of diaspora, identity, race, class and gender in the domestic interior".Michael McMillan, [http://www.mona.uwi.edu/conferences/literatures/ABS/ABS%20McMillan.pdf "The ‘West Indian’ Front Room: migrant aesthetics in the home"], University of the West Indies, Mona. According to cultural theorist Stuart Hall, "The front room is a conservative element of black domestic life, which is more complex and rich than the generality of the society ever realises"; nevertheless, McMillan recalled in an article in The Guardian:

"Growing up in our front room caused me much aesthetic distress. The wallpaper and carpet never seemed to match, and Jim Reeves would be crooning from the Blue Spot radiogram on a Sunday. This room was based on the Victorian parlour and was inscribed with a formal code of behaviour because it was reserved for receiving guests. It was packed with furniture, ornaments and soft furnishings surrounded by a gallery of pictures and photographs."Michael McMillan, [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/sep/16/african-caribbean-immigration-front-rooms-book "Home is where the art is — The front rooms of African-Caribbean immigrants to the UK are centre stage in a new book"], The Guardian, 16 September 2009.

Mounted at London's Geffrye Museum in October 2005, the critically acclaimed exhibition resonated with more than 35,000 visitors who represented a variety of ages, genders and social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Different versions have since been remade in other countries and cultural settings, including in the Netherlands and in Curaçao, and the associated BBC4 television documentary Tales from the Front Room was broadcast in 2007. He has also made presentations on The Front Room at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009), Clark University, Worcester (2009) and Northwestern University, Chicago, (2008).[http://www.originsoftheafrocomb.co.uk/project/committee.html "The committee"], Origins of the Afro Comb. A book entitled The Front Room: Migrant Aesthetics in the Home followed in 2009.Michael McMillan, [http://svgblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/life-before-ikea-by-michael-mcmillan.html "Life before IKEA"]; via Karl Eklund, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines blog, 7 September 2009.

Another installation-based exhibition was The Beauty Shop (2008) at the 198 Gallery in south London,[http://www.198.org.uk/artistic-programmes/archives/beauty-shop "The Beauty Shop"], Archives, 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning. where, as with The Front Room, McMillan "tried to create a tangible sense of performance. Visitors were encouraged to respond to them as theatre as much as art."Michael McMillan, [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2009/sep/30/black-theatre-plays-roy-williams "There's more to black theatre than plays"], The Guardian, 30 September 2009.

In 2015, he recreated the Walter Rodney Bookshop as an installation within the exhibition No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990 at the Guildhall Art Gallery (July 2015–January 2016),William Axtell, [http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art531290-guildlhall-celebrates-black-british-artists-with-no-colour-bar-black-british-art-in-action-1960-1990 "Guildhall celebrates black British artists with No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action"], Culture24, 9 July 2015. and participated in related events.[http://artmaplondon.com/artmap/events/radical-readings-from-the-walter-rodney-bookshop-at-the-guildhall-art-gallery-65728/ "Radical Readings from the Walter Rodney Bookshop at the Guildhall Art Gallery"], Art Map London, September 2015.[http://huntleysonline.com/f-h-a-l-m-a/events/ FHALMA — Events: "No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960 – 1990"], Huntleys Online.[http://nocolourbar.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/personal-insight-from-curator-michael.html "Personal Insight from Curator Michael McMillan"], No Colour Bar Blogspot, 24 August 2015.

Another recent work is Doing Nothing Is Not An Option, a site-responsive mixed-media installation to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa by exploring the relationship between local people in Peckham and the memory of the Nigerian writer and activist.[http://www.peckhamplatform.com/system/files/082015/55c1fc7b7d636859840004a9/original/Michael_McMillan_Exhibition_PR_FINAL.pdf?1438776443 "Doing Nothing Is Not An Option"], Michael McMillan | Peckham Platform | 17 September – 22 November 2015.[https://vimeo.com/143785039 "Doing Nothing Is Not An Option"], video from Peckham Platform.

Selected curatorial work

Van Huis Uit: The Living Room of Migrants in the Netherlands (Imagine IC, Amsterdam, and Netherlands Tour, 2007–08)
A Living Room Surrounded by Salt (Instituto Buena Bista, Curaçao, 2008)
The Beauty Shop (198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Brixton, 25 January 2008 – 28 March 2013)
The West Indian Front Room (Geffrye Museum, 2005–06)Michael McMillan, [https://www.academia.edu/290317/The_West_Indian_Front_Room_Reflections_on_a_Diasporic_Phenomenon "The 'West Indian' Front Room: Reflections on a Diasporic Phenomenon"], Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism (SX 28, Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2009) {{ISSN|0799-0537}}. Abstract, Academia/
The Southall Story (South Bank Centre, 2010)
"I Miss My Mum’s Cooking" (in Who More Sci-Fi Than Us, KAdE Kunsthal, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2012)
"The Waiting Room" (in Stories and Journeys, Gwynedd Museum & Art Gallery, Bangor, North Wales, 2012)
"My Hair: Black Hair Culture, Style and Politics" (in Origins of the Afro Comb, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2013)
"The Walter Rodney Bookshop" (in No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990, Guildhall Art Gallery, 10 July 2015 – 24 January 2016)

Selected publications

The School Leaver (Black Ink Collective, 1978)
On Duty (Akira Press, 1984)
Editor, Words, Sounds & Power Anthology (Centerprise Publishing Project, 1988)
Living Proof: Views of a World Living with HIV/AIDS (Artist Agency, 1992).
The Black Boy Pub & Other Stories: The black experience in High Wycombe (Wycombe District Council, 1997).
If I Could Fly: An anthology of writings from young men at Orchard Lodge Resource Centre (Southwark Social Services, 1998).
Growing Up Is Hard To Do: A Book For Young People & Adults About Sexual Health (Young People's Health Project, 2000).
Same Difference: 25 Years of International Youth Volunteering with the Daneford Trust (2006).
The Waiting Room: An audio-visual tale of an artist in residence at the Alaw Ward (Cancer & Palliative Care Unit) in Ysbyty Gwynedd & Rheumatology Clinics in Ysbyty Gwynedd and Ysbyty Llandudno (2006)
The Front Room: Migrant Aesthetics in the Home (Black Dog Publishing, 2009). Revised edition, The Front Room: Diaspora Migrant Aesthetics in the Home (illus; with Foreword by Margaret Busby), Lund Humphries, 2023, {{ISBN|9781848225930}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.lundhumphries.com/products/the-front-room|title=The Front Room: Diaspora Migrant Aesthetics in the Home|publisher=Lund Humphries}}

Plays and performance pieces

The School Leaver (Royal Court Theatre, 1978)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/school-leaver "The School Leaver"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Hard Time Pressure (Royal Court Theatre, 1980)
Carve Your Name (The Old Vic Theatre, 1981)
Day of Action (Brent Black People's Theatre, 1981)
On Duty (Carlton Centre, Kilburn, 1983)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/duty "On Duty"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
First Impressions (Perspective Theatre Company, 1988)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/first-impressions "First Impressions"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Portrait of a Shopping Centre as a Cathedral (1990)
The Last Blind Date (Artists Alliance/Live Theatre, 1992)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/last-blind-date "Last Blind Date, The"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Invisible (Double Edge Theatre Company; 1993 & 1998)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/invisible "Invisible"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Brother to Brother (Lyric Hammersmith and tour, 1996 & 1998); in Cheryl Robson (ed.), Black and Asian Plays Anthology, Aurora Metro, 2000Susan Croft, [http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/documents/legacy_documents/file_upload/37047_file.pdf?q=plays "Black Playwrights in Britain in Print" (bibliography)], VAM.[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/brother-brother "Brother To Brother"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
I Hope It's Not a Black Man (1996)
After Windrush (Oval House Theatre, 1998)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/after-windrush "After Windrush"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Blood for Britain (BBC Radio 4 Drama, 2001)
Can you Play Football? (2004)
Babel Junction (Empire Theatre, 2006)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/babel-junctions "Babel Junctions"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
Master Juba (Luton Library Theatre, Albany Theatre, 2006)[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/master-juba "Master Juba"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
New translation of The Good Person of Sezuan by Bertolt Brecht (2010 & 2012)

References

External links

[http://www.uprising-art.com/en/portfolio/michael-mcmillan-st-vincent-uk/ "Michael McMillan | St. Vincent – UK"], Uprising Art.
[http://blog.uprising-art.com/exclusive-interview-michael-mcmillan/ "Exclusive Interview: Michael McMillan – in the framework of the exhibition Who More Sci-Fi than Us"], Uprising Art, 2 July 2012.
[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/playwrights/mcmillan-michael "Michael McMillan"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
[http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/mcmillan-michael.html Michael McMillan] at Doollee.com.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVM6vAEGv64 "Artist Shiraz Bayjoo In Conversation with Michael McMillan, 5 Feb 2015"], InivaArts. YouTube.
Sigita Bendikaitė, [https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-fashion/stories/michael-mcmillan-on-curating-a-front-room-in-1970 "Story | Michael McMillan on curating A front Room in 1970"], University of the Arts London, 8 March 2022.

Category:1962 births

Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century British male writers

Category:21st-century British male writers

Category:Academics of the University of the Arts London

Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins

Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex

Category:Black British academics

Category:Black British artists

Category:Black British writers

Category:British curators

Category:English curators

Category:English people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines descent

Category:Living people

Category:People from High Wycombe