Dr Michael McMillian
BA Hons Sociology and African and Asian studies, Sussex University, Brighton (UK): MA Independent Film & Video, Central St Martins, University of the Arts London (UK); Arts Doctorate, Middlesex University, London (UK).
As a London based writer, playwright, mixed-media artist, curator, scholar and educator of Vincentian migrant heritage, McMillan has been a Royal Literary Fund (RLF) Writing Fellow at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts (UAL), London (UK) and is currently an Associate Lecturer at the London College of Fashion (LCF) at UAL. His transdisciplinary creative practice explores migration, diaspora, identity, gender, sexuality and hidden histories through ethnography, material culture, oral history, performance texts, installation and audio-visual media.
McMillan’s critically-acclaimed works include The West Indian Front Room, Geffrye Museum (2005-06), which has been iterated internationally; Van Huis Uit: The Living Room of Migrants in The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Tilburg, Utrecht (2007-8); A Living Room Surrounded by Salt, Curacao (2008), at the FADA Gallery UJ with VIAD Research Centre (2016), Arles Festival and Lillie, France (2017) and part of the Tate Britain’s group show, Life Between Islands tour to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2022-23). Other installation-based exhibitions include: The Beauty Shop (2008); I Miss My Mum’s Cooking, as part of Who More Sci-Fi Than Us, the Netherlands (2012) and Brighton Fringe Festival (UK) (2003); Walter Rodney Bookshop installation as part of No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (UK) (2015-16); and Rockers, Soulheads & Lovers: Sound Systems back in da Day (2015-16).
The Front Room inspired the BBC4 documentary Tales from the Front Room (2007), as well as his publication, The Front Room: Diaspora migrant aesthetics in the Home (Lund Humphries, 2009, 2nd Edition) with an essay by Stuart Hall. The Front Room is now a permanent installation at the Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum) alongside his site-specific triptych film installation, Waiting for myself to appear. Other films include Walking in the Wake, for the Estuary Festival (2021).
As well as various writer and artist residencies, Dr McMillan has edited numerous publications, published book chapters and peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, and presented at international conferences, symposia and festivals. He is also an editorial board member of the online literary magazine, Writersmosaic, a division of the RLF.
Dr Michael McMillan joined VIAD in 2016.
