Cleaning The Art School
In January 2026 I interviewed and photographed the cleaning team at The Glasgow School of Art. I wanted to document unheard voices that are key to running The Art School, but aren’t students or faculty.
Library’s the best one to clean.
Cause that’s where I work. Nah, it’s just - you don’t get - see the likes of, I used to work on the 4th floor and because they make things it’s a lot of dirt and that, where as library is just people with their lunch. You don’t get the same kind of dirt that you do in places where they actually make things.
I remember the first year I started when I worked on the fourth floor and I saw, a kind of work in progress. I went in one day and there was a bit of paper, and bits of crumpled up newspaper.
And the next day there was another crumpled up bit of newspaper stuck to the paper. And it just progressed for the week until the bit of paper was all bits of crumpled up newspaper and that was... art?
I just thought ‘What actually is that supposed to be?’
And then, oh remember, that exhibition with the dog shit?
Is that one with the guy with the feet?
No it was just all the dog shit.
What?!
In the gallery downstairs, it was just big pictures of dog shit up on the walls.
Big Jobbies everywhere.
Art?
I took a video of it, I couldn’t believe it. They say modern art is shit, now it really is.
But on the plus side there’s some beautiful jewellery.
There is.
Yeah there’s some really beautiful jewellery that gets made.
So do you like seeing the stuff that folk make?
Yup. Uh-huh. Oh yeah.
Definitely, that is a wee perk of the job.
We’re very critical...
Yes, very critical but.
(laughing)
Aye, like ‘That’s a load of shite, that.’
See sometimes you don’t know if it’s rubbish or if it’s their work.
Like you’re not supposed to take off the tables.
But then sometimes you’ve got to watch the floor because you don’t know if it’s art or rubbish.
This didn’t happen here, it happened at Edinburgh College of Art. Where this girl in my year did an art piece that was a trash can with rubbish coming out of it and the janitors threw the whole thing away. It was like a whole big deal, because it was literally in an exhibition. But I was like, it kind of adds to the artwork in a way that they thought it was actual trash.
You’re in here at about 6 in the morning, or just before.
And you don’t stop until, what, tea time?
Aye
9 O’clock, that’s kind of, you’ve got to get your bins, your toilets done for the students coming in. So you’re kind of running against the clock.
I think it’s a good job, the hours you do and the money’s good. For the kinda job. And you get good holidays.
Listen, son - she’s been retiring for the past three year. And she’s no went yet.
Aye, I says that every year. “I’m retiring, I’m retiring” and I’ve never done it yet. But I says this year for definite.
Aye, Aye. We’ve all heard it before.
It’s nice meeting some of the students, hearing their life stories and see them progressing and moving on to other things.
But it’s quite a satisfying job as well because you go in in the morning and the place is a mess and you go away and think ‘it’s nice and clean!’
See the students... some of them are like weans. They cannae pull the plug on the toilet and things like that. They cannae... They leave all their snottery hankies on the tables. And things like that. You go like that ‘I’m not lifting that’ and then you go like that (mimes lifting a tissue at arms length)
Aye, you cannae leave it, can you?
Aye, you can’t!
This text is formed from a conversation between Michael and Annette, Elaine, Faye, James, June, Leanne, Margaret, Sam & Sharon in February 2026.