Roland Miller obituary

My friend Roland Miller, who has died aged 83, was a pioneering performance artist whose work, often created in partnership with his second wife, Shirley Cameron, was widely seen in the UK, across Europe and in Canada.

Roland was born in Woodford, north-east London, and grew up in the grounds of Digby psychiatric hospital in Devon, where his father, Douglas, worked as an administrator. His mother, Dorothy (nee Mayor), was a secretary.

He won a scholarship to Exeter grammar school. After graduating in English literature from Wadham College, Oxford, he worked briefly as a journalist, then as a gardener at Dartington Hall, Devon, where he met his first wife, Victoria (nee Frank). They later divorced. He went on to study theatre at Manchester University under Stephen Joseph, an innovator of theatre-in-the-round.

In the 1960s, Roland became involved in London’s alternative cultural scene. He took a post with the International Times and joined the People Show, the improvisational theatre group started by Jeff Nuttall.

Roland met Shirley, who was a sculptor, in 1970. Combining her artistic talent with his skills as an actor they immersed themselves in the world of performance art. Their works were presented in theatres and galleries, alongside festivals and agricultural shows, and in streets and shops throughout Britain and Europe. They married in 1999 and travelled mainly by train, with their twin daughters, who sometimes appeared in their shows.

Notable pieces included Railway Images (1970), performed alongside the train track between Wakefield and Leeds; Seed Drill/Pyramids (1976), as part of the Italian showcase of British art, Arte Inglese Oggi; and Celebration of Pre-Metrication (1978/79), at the Serpentine Gallery.

Roland also helped to shape performance art in Britain as a teacher, writer and advocate. He served on the Arts Council’s experimental drama committee in the 70s, produced influential reports on funding and copyright and wrote for magazines including Art Monthly and Time Out. He taught performance art at Leeds College of Art and later at Huddersfield University, and gained a practice-based PhD in 2000 from De Montfort University, Leicester, on the subject.

Rejecting the idea of art as a commodity, he liked to use modest materials, often found objects. His work also included running classes with Catholic and Protestant children in Northern Ireland; giving flowers to audiences in Cardiff; and a piece called Thatcher and Reagan Against the Bombing of Libya in Sheffield.

He continued to perform internationally well into the 2000s, and when his declining health forced him to retire he showed his art in venues near his home in Sheffield.

He is survived by Shirley and their daughters, Colette and Lois, by his children from his first marriage, Katrinka and Casey, and by five grandchildren.

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