Myrninerest: The Outside/Inside Life of Madge Gill

“I think art is a comfort; and it’s a reason for being, and certainly as an artist it’s the main thing you do. Certainly for Madge Gill it would have been maybe the one thing she had that she could focus on.” Sir Peter Blake, ‘Godfather of British Pop Art’

Madge Gill (1882–1961) was one of the foremost British Outsider artists.* She felt an instinctive compulsion to create, resulting in an outpouring that flowed effortlessly and spontaneously from an altered state of consciousness. Working under the control of Myrninerest, her spirit guide, Madge Gill’s art remains an enigma.

She was born in the East End of London, and lived in Plashet Grove, Upton Park. After her death, her only surviving son Laurie gathered hundreds of pieces of Madge’s work which were stored around the house, stuffed into drawers and cupboards and under the bed. He donated most of the works to East Ham Council and they are now owned by Newham Council.

The play was performed in August 2024 by professional actors and local young talent in the Gallery Space at Art in the Docks, Gallions Reach. Art in the Docks is an artist-led social enterprise, embedded within its local community in the London Borough of Newham, surrounded by one of the youngest and most ethnically diverse populations in the UK.

“This wholly absorbing evening is a wonderful demonstration of something Alan Ayckbourn said in a recent interview: ‘I think all you need is a little forum in every community — it doesn’t need to be a huge space — where people can take the time to discuss the things we do to each other and what it means to be human.’”
- Plays to See

* Art historian Roger Cardinal originally coined the term ‘Outsider Art’ in 1972. Since then it has been taken to mean self-taught. Outsider artists did not pursue fame, money, or success, worked in isolation and existed outside of the mainstream art world.