Behind the Portrait - Shaun Murawski

 

As told to Jack Howse | Photo by Simon Murphy 

Shaun Murawski is a poet and photographer who grew up in Govan and the East End. He has lived in Govanhill for the past ten years. After begrudgingly applying to do a photography course at the behest of his mum, Shaun experienced a stratospheric rise to fame after winning a competition to photograph the Queen in 2011; becoming the youngest ever person to take an official portrait of her. 

I grew up next to Wine Alley in Govan, or what used to be that. I never really came to Govanhill as a kid but I had a couple of friends from around here. 

I didn’t really have a set idea of what I wanted to do. My mum kinda made me apply for college by saying I either needed to go get a job or study something else after I’d decided I wanted to turn down a place I’d been offered at university doing a science course. And then from there that's where my passion developed from. It feels strange that I kinda fell into this thing that now I think was made for me. 

After college, I was selected for a commission for the Scottish Parliament. I was quite lucky and thankful to have got this because at the time I was gutted that I had been rejected for art school after college. The commission was to take a formal portrait of the Queen. 

You’d think it would be strange photographing the Queen as someone who’s really left wing and anti-monarchist, but it wasn’t. I was so young when I did it and in some ways that made it easier with my political leanings, because I had no idea what I was doing. However I was allowed to do it the way I wanted which was so important. 

It was made out to be quite a big deal being the youngest person to photograph her. It was in all the papers. But they seemed less interested in my age and more so that I had lots of piercings and looked a bit like a mosher.

My mum died quite unexpectedly during COVID. It was at this time that I started to write again for the first time since school. I think mostly because I couldn’t partake in this communal act of grieving due to the lockdown, and because I couldn’t go outside to take photos which is my usual way of communicating and interacting with the environment. I made these zines with my photos and my words and I got lots of messages from people saying how much the poetry resonated with them. 

It’s only very recently I’ve been able to say I’m a poet without getting serious working class guilt about it. I guess it’s an interesting one and is probably related to the fact that if you come from a background like mine, being an artist is never presented to you as a feasible career – not because it’s looked down upon, but more out of practicality. This, and a hundred other reasons I guess. Sometimes I can feel guilty that I have experienced some sort of class mobility when I know people working just as hard as me who aren’t in a great situation. I don’t know how useful guilt is as an emotion though. 

This picture of me was taken maybe a year ago but Simon first took a portrait of me seven years ago. It was just when he was starting out on his Govanhill project and was shooting portraits of people he already knew . He took a picture of me lying on my living room  floor. My dad has got a print of it somewhere but I’ll burn it when he dies. Not because it’s not a wonderful photo but just… 

I love Simon’s work and was honoured to be a part of his recent exhibition. I was happy to just be one of the small portraits though and not one of the framed ones. I really think his work is a special record of a period of time for the area. With Govanhill being what it’s like and with all the people in it, it’s going to change so many times beyond now. 


This article first appeared in our language issue. If you would like to see more like it then become member today and support the longevity of Greater Govanhill.

 
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