The Front Room, display, Michael McMillan, permanent 1970s period room, Museum of the Home, London, 2021, Photo courtesy of EM Fitzgerald.
Michael McMillan (b. 1962) is London based writer, playwright, artist/curator and scholar
Michael McMillan, Arts.D. is a British born writer, playwright, artist/curator and scholar to parents from St Vincent & the Grenadines, who is best known for the much-loved and critically acclaimed The Front Room installation that has been iterated nationally and internationally. His interdisciplinary practice centres around the praxis (theory and practice) of ‘the creative process, ethnography, oral histories, material culture and performativity’.
This website provides archive documentation of his practice over 40 years.
“History is not in the past, it is in the present, because we carry our histories with us.”
McMillan’s practice began after winning an essay competition at fifteen and attending FESTAC 77 (2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture) in Nigeria 1977. It was a transformative experience. His plays have been produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Talawa Theatre, Channel 4, BBC4 Radio Drama, and most recently Waiting for Myself to Appear, a one-woman performance piece that has been made into a triptych film installation at the Museum of the Home.
His practice as artist/curator began with The West Indian Front Room, with over 35,000 visitors was the Geffrye Museum’s most successful exhibition (2005-06). The Front Room went onto inspire the BBC4 documentary, Tales from the Front Room (2007), a website, and book, The Front Room: Diaspora migrant aesthetics in the Home (originally published 2009 by Black Dog) will be published as a revised edition by Lund Humphries in 2023. The Front Room has been iterated internationally: 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 (IBB, Curaçao, 2008), The Front Room ‘Inna Joburg’ (FADA Gallery/VIAD, University of Johannesburg, 2016) and in the group show Home Sweet Home (Arles Festival, France, 2019). It was also featured in the group show Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Arts 1950s - Now (Tate Britain, 2021-22) and is a permanent 1970s period room at the Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum) since 2021.
As well as various writer and artist residencies, McMillan has edited numerous publications, published book chapters and peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, and presented at international conferences, symposia and festivals. He has the first Arts Doctorate from Middlesex University (2010), and is currently an Associate Lecturer in Cultural & Historical Studies at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, and Research Associate with VIAD (Visual Identities in Art & Design Research Centre) at the University of Johannesburg. McMillan is a member of the Society of Authors, and Royal Literary Fund (RLF) fellow that includes being a member of Writersmosaic editorial board.