Art & Culture

Manchester’s street art scene gets its own book

Local author Eddie Taiwo has spent years exploring every corner, nook and cranny of the city centre to track down the city's most stunning mosaics and murals.

The Manc The Manc - 29th May 2021

Manchester’s bourgeoning street art scene has been captured and packed into the pages of a brand new book which has officially hit shelves this month.

Local author Eddie Taiwo has explored every corner, nook and cranny of the city centre to track down the city’s most stunning mosaics and murals; building out a bumper catalogue of more than 200 photos titled Manchester Street Art: Graffiti, Murals & Mosaics.

A mixture of new and old, the book contains sketches you can still find plastered across the city centre’s brickwork today, as well as pieces which have long since been scrubbed away.

Images range from the artistic to the political – with snaps of rainbow-dunked skate ramps sharing page space with furiously-scrawled statements painted during the dead of night away from prying eyes.

One example of the latter is the ‘the north is not a petri dish’ graffiti – which appeared on the Piccadilly Gardens Wall in the wake of tier restrictions in October 2020 (before being preserved by Manchester City Council).

ADVERTISEMENT
The famous Piccadilly Gardens Wall graffiti features in a new street art book by Ed Taiwo / Image: Wikimedia Commons

Manchester Street Art: Graffiti, Murals & Mosaics is described as casting “a spotlight into rare and unseen photos of hidden works of art for art lovers, artists, historians and students to appreciate and admire.”

Ed explained: “I created this book as a way of giving representation to artists who may not be able to have their works displayed in prominent art galleries, which can at times be a closed and exclusive community.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The street itself is a gallery and I hope this book helps readers to acknowledge that some of the UK’s best street artists are from or reside here.”

Ed’s book features street art painted right the way across the Northern Quarter / Image: Ed Taiwo

He added: “During the height of the COVID pandemic the adage ‘if these walls could talk’ took on an almost literal meaning as messages of hope were painted along buildings , rods and underpasses to let us know that we’re all in this together.”

“Art and design is about seeing the beauty in everything and all you need to do so is to have an open mind.”

ADVERTISEMENT

 Manchester Street Art: Graffiti, Murals & Mosaics is available to buy online at Amazon here.

Instagram: @eddie_taiwo

Art & Culture

Forget pub crawls – you can now go on a guided cheese crawl around Manchester

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

Manchester is a foodie’s paradise and with so many options at hand why not break it down into individual food groups – starting with the dairy crowd pleaser, cheese.

Long gone are the draining pub crawls of the past, it’s time to make way for the new pioneer in the world of adventurous crawling, ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’.

There’s always lots of food and drink options flowing throughout our bubbly city spanning all cuisines and cultures so it comes as no surprise that the latest way to experience Manchester is via cheese, a staple of many citizens’ diets.

On the tour, there will be insider knowledge on-hand as you wander the streets and sample the creamy delights, assisting you with any dying queso queries and pecorino ponders that you need to get off your chest.

There’ll be plenty of familiar independents on the Manchester Cheese Crawl, including Northern Soul’s impressive grilled cheese sandwiches as well as more traditional cheese samples.

How could this experience get any better I hear you ask, how about a free glass of fizz to accompany those already impressive cheese selections? Yes please! 

Guests can expect to sample some of Manchester’s dairy delights while being directed by some of Manchester’s top cheese connoisseurs that are the real big cheese.

Groups who take the tour aren’t just treated to food and drink, they also receive free entertainment from their food guides who are prepared to make you chuckle with their incredible humour.

Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese, a cheeseboard staple, has been recalled
The Manchester Cheese Crawl will feature plenty of bites for curd nerds
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
A selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.
Credit: Unsplash

Previous visitors have commented on their experience while taking the tour sharing the names their groups received with highlights such as ‘Shaken not curd’ and ‘Three blind mice’.

They really are serious about their cheeses, another previous visitor who went on the tour revealed their guide even had a name that perfectly fit the occasion, ‘Mel the babybel’. 

It’s sure to be a fantastic day with games and activities planned for all as you walk between the shops landmarked on the cheese-filled route.

Everyone on the tour also gets a small taste of the high life as they are treated to a Lancashire cheese handmade by a local star and celebrity.

Read more:

Starting at the Richard Cobden Statue and finishing on the always vibrant Tib Street, a quick google search reveals this walk isn’t too strenuous taking only 12 minutes but with many cheeses to get your whiskers on it will probably take around an estimated two hours to tackle.

Running this Saturday 16 November and planned to continue until November 2025 and beyond, you’d be emmental to miss out on this cheesy adventure.

If all this cheese talk has left you dreaming about your next foodie fix, tickets for ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’ are on sale and available here.

Featured Image: Unsplash

Art & Culture

Man United legend Eric Cantona stuns Manchester artists with surprise visit to GRIT Studios

Danny Jones Danny Jones Eric Cantona surprises Manchester artists at GRIT Studios

Artists working at a Manchester studio were left speechless by a recent surprise visit from none other than Man United legend Eric Cantona.

The former United forward’s love for the city has never waned no matter how many years have gone by and as a lover of all things art, be it music, painting, acting or what he did with a football, he never fails to engage with local culture whenever he’s here.

He may not be based here anymore but the Frenchman – who knows a thing or two about art given his past acting jobs, newfound music career and previous showcases – still pays plenty of visits to 0161, including a recent unannounced one.

Cantona was back in the city centre this week to pay GRIT Studios resident Michael Browne, the artist who he collaborated with to create his National Football Museum exhibition last year, but the one thing Browne didn’t do was let the other people working in their city centre location he was coming.

GRIT Studios Manchester Stockport
Cantona pays Manchester art studio a surprise visit
Credit: GRIT Studios Manchester (supplied)

To be fair, anyone would double-take if they saw Eric Cantona walk into a room, so this was quite a memorable occasion for the unsuspecting artists.

After working on 2023’s From Moss Side to Marseille with Browne, the 58-year-old has been reimmersing himself in the world of Manchester art and there aren’t many places that epitomise that more than GRIT, who are based in Stockport with a second studio at Great Northern Warehouse.

Landing in Manchester from Paris, Cantona arrived in the late morning and ended up staying for over an hour, taking time to meet a number of artists and tour the space with co-founder John Macaulay.

Clearly impressed with their work and genuinely enthused by the sense of community within the local grassroots art scene, it was a special visit for everyone involved.

John, a die-hard Man United fan who has seen the Red Devils play in 25 countries before going on to set up GRIT Studios and much-loved Art Battle MCR with his wife Sophie, said: “It’s full circle for me having watched Eric play all over the world, it’s true honour that he’s flown in to see our talented artists.”

eric cantona back in manchester
eric cantona at manchester art studio
Credit: Supplied

Read more:

Artists spent time chatting with Eric and talking through their creative processes; those present included mosaic artist, Francis Thorrington, plein air (outdoor) artist, Sketch MCR – a.k.a. Ben Rock – painters Jodie Silverman, Helen Davies and Sophie Macaulay, as well as woodworker Gus Riddell.

Also a fellow United fan, Francis said he simply “couldn’t stop smiling the whole time” after Cantona described his work as wonderful.

Eric looked at home when he picked up and started strumming Chris Pollin’s hand-made guitars, which are handcrafted from driftwood and take hundreds of hours of work.

The enigmatic sports personality turned pop philosopher and cultural figure clearly enjoyed the visit. His final message was that it was refreshing to see a place where “art was for everyone” not just the elite.

As for Browne, he is sworn to secrecy on his next project but let’s just say you can expect some big announcements in the coming weeks. As for GRIT, you can visit one of their open days this Saturday, 16 November and make sure to check out their Stockport studio if you’re in the area.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — GRIT Studios (supplied)

More Art & Culture

Art & Culture

The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 18 – 24 November 2024

Art & Culture

Science and Industry Museum to transform into immersive ‘Light Lab’ as part of 2024 festive events programme

Art & Culture

You can be a part of Christmas movie history by travelling on The Polar Express near Manchester

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches