Draw Duke Street | Mitch Miller

October 29, 2012 5:15 pm

Draw Duke Street

Mitch Miller

30th October – 16th December 2012

Preview 7th December.

From the 30th of October to the 16th of December 2012, illustrator Mitch Miller was resident in Market Gallery on Duke Street. His task was to create a large room-length ‘dialectogram’ of the stretch of Dennistoun’s main high street that lies between Bellgrove and Duke Street rail stations. Aided by a team of volunteers who gathered information and assisted his research, he worked continuously on the drawing in an open studio format, where members of the public were encouraged to drop by, share stories and if they so wished, contribute their own knowledge and experiences to the dialectogram.

But what exactly is a dialectogram? The word is entirely made up, so don’t worry if you have never heard of it before! A dialectogram is a large, detailed drawing of a place – a mixture of map, architectural plan, comic strip and diagram – that documents the lives, histories and relationships between Glaswegians and their city. The drawings collate personal accounts, feelings about place, local knowledge and the impressions of the artist to create a unique social and aesthetic document. The approach has already been used to create a visual legacy for the Red Road Flats as part of the Red Road Cultural project (now acquired by the People’s Palace Museum), and to record the living arrangements of Miller’s own community, the travelling showpeople of Glasgow’s East end. He is working elsewhere in the city on subjects as diverse as traditional working-men’s pubs, Glasgow Green and student protests.

With Draw Duke Street Miller’s attention turns to his local high street (he lives two minutes away from it, on Craigpark Drive), its history, and its current situation – poised between a double dip recession and the massive changes to the East End heralded by the 2014 Commonwealth Games. During his collaboration with Market he will contact all of the shops, pubs and public facilities between the Cooperative Funeral Parlour at the corner of Bellgrove and the Tattoo parlour across from Duke Street Train station and invite them to take part. Local people, interest groups and the local community council will also be invited to contribute ideas, memories and thoughts to the drawing, which will consist of a strip of A0 panels fitted together as they are completed.