Brighten the corner where you are: Graphic Journal

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MITCH MILLER:

GRAPHIC JOURNAL


My main task in our project was to create a dialectogram [link] of The African Arts Centre (TAAC), where much of Aberlour’s work was taking place. This involved a lot of sketching and drawing on site. It’s quick work – I half expected smoke to rise off the pencil as I scratched out a half-decent portrait of a worker or young person, or tried to capture the basic layout of a room. This graphic journal represents this process between April and early August 2016. Some entries are more finished than others – drawings that I wouldn’t be too ashamed to hang on a wall. Others are mere impressions – hastily done, to grab as much as I can before we had to move on. As you look at the dialectogram in the other section, you will see how some sketches here found their way into the main piece, and how others were just interesting detours along the way.

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This, and the next couple of entires show sketches from our initial meetings with Aberlour, back in January/February. I doodle at meetings anyway, so I thought I might as well capture some of the names and faces we’d be working with. This is my first attempt to draw Johnny Hendry, alongside Gemma, Service Manager, and Maxine, Assistant Director of Aberlour.

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Another view of Aberlour staff – and an insight into some of the ideas that were being raised and examined in those early meetings. If you can read my writing, of course.

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Alison and Chris in an early morning caffeine deficit situation. And, suffering my own as I was, another attempt to draw Johnny. I would get much better at doing this – this is pretty rubbish!

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Marie-Claire, who handled marketing for the project.

Goscars (Govan-Oscars) night! This was a special ceremony to reward kids involved in Aberlour projects. The room was dark and everyone kept moving, so this is rough. This was where we met many of the people – such as Amu – we would work with for the first time. > 6


And so onto the work itself. We got started by observing the Kitchen refit project at The African Arts Centre) on Broomloan Road. As soon as I saw TAAC, I knew that was where I should centre my part of the project work. I immediately set about with the sketchbook, trying to get a sense of how it looked, worked and fit together.

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< The African Arts Centre is covered in paintings, drums and hardwood sculptures. I wanted to get a feel for these shapes and textures so I could convey the atmosphere of the place where so many of the Aberlour Youthpoint activities – the kitchen refit, and the art projects – took place.

More objects and a guy doing some work! The African Arts Centre was made using tools that are universal – moveable amplifiers and the goodwill of volunteers - mostly, in this case, from the Scottish African and Slovakian community who come in to help keep the place going.

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The next few drawings are not all that pretty – nor are they meant to be. These are mostly plan sketches to help me capture how things looked at a certain times, and how features of TAAC related to each other. This is the kitchen as it looked on the first day of the refit.

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When you are trying to get a feel for a place, every detail is important – including boring ones, like heaters – or interesting ones, like this beautiful African drum.

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An early – and rather rubbish sketch of the main, or function hall in The African Arts Centre.

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One of the hardest bits of a dialectogram is working out how it fits together. Here I am in my notebook trying to do just that.

< If you can read all my handwriting on this you should probably go and work for MI6 or become one of those people who deciphers ancient hierogylphics. This is a much more developed sketch-plan of the function hall in TAAC. Extremely rough and ready, but it was hugely helpful in fixing details of a place that, by its very nature, was always changing. 13


During the kitchen work we would catch the young people on their breaks and have a quick chat about their experience. With Alison handling the main interviewing duties, I could do a little bit of portraiture at the side, and occasionally chip in. This kid was very shy - but made a great subject.

Another of the young plasterers – he had much more confidence and poise than his friend.

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Checking up on the kitchen work was Andy Masterson, Depute Head of Govan High who had worked with Johnny Hendry to devise the Kitchen project. Here he is in The African Arts Centre, explaining why he felt the intervention was so necessary.

Alison Irvine, in interview mode during another visit to TAAC. >

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The kitchen project was very much an experiment to see how young people who had exhibited challenging behaviour could function outside of a school environment, on work that was relevant to their interests and aspirations. This involved a lot of trust – under close supervision. Aberlour workers were on site to assist, support, encourage and oversee the process – though at this particular point they are having a well-earned tea-break.

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So much of the activity and intervention we documented was facilitated by this man – Amu, founder and organiser of the African Arts Centre, leader of the art group sessions, client for the kitchen refit and all round fixer. And musician, agricultural scientist, artist, craftsman, teacher, community leader... He’s probably most efficiently summed up by the name everyone gives him; Chief.

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We followed various stories wherever they took us – to the drinking spots by the docks, the Govan Fair parade and of course, Govan High where many of these young people attend (in the case of some, not very often). When Alison and I arrived to do some follow-up interviews it was sports day – and a number of the young people we wanted to speak with found playing bubble football much more interesting than talking to us. Funny that.

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But we did track some down – as we waited for them, we had an opportunity to catch up with Andy again, in his office. He spoke in greater detail about the challenges schools like Govan High faced, and the need to intervene where pupils were struggling to engage with the school environment.

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We finally got our interviews – and I got a second chance at a portrait with one young person who had confounded my best efforts to draw him. He was very charismatic, and it came across in his features. His face was so changeable – a scowl that turned to a sudden smile could very well be two different boys entirely. And he never sat still for a minute. I managed to get something better at this meeting, but my best effort is in the comic strip (see excerpt opposite), where he appears in the bottom left panel. >

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Back to The African Arts Centre for the latter stages of the project, and more arts activity – two teams of young artists working on collaborative paintings around the idea of Africa. As I sat in the corner trying to catch some of it, I seemed to become something of a spectacle myself, judging by all the people – mostly young Slovakian men who were hanging out there that night – peeking over my shoulder.


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< And lastly, some sketches of the kids involved in Amu’s art classes.

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www.brightenthecorner.org.uk


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