If you’re up with the early bird tomorrow and tuned into the BBC, you may see the changing face of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Yesterday, we were fortunate to witness Hare Street’s latest face lift, a painted mural by Matt Sewell and Ghost Patrol.
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| Matt Sewell and Ghost Patrol in action transforming Hare Street |
Manchester’s Northern Quarter is a well-known cultural hub: an alternative to the traditional, commercial shopping centre. It’s especially known for its street art; sticker art, stencil graffiti and poster paste ups. It’s an area I frequent regularly with the boy when shopping in Manchester, our favourite place to lunch, Common Bar, is tucked away within this hub of art.
It seems it’s out with the old and in with the new in the ever-changing artistic landscape of the Northern Quarter. Previously, Berlin and UK artist, Billy and Alex, occupied Common Bar’s wall space. Seven months later, enter a collaboration between Australian artist, Ghost Patrol, and English illustrator/artist, Matt Sewell. We dropped by at numerous times, in between our shopping, to see the work in progress. In the space of one day, the wall had been completely transformed.
Alongside today’s new mural, D7606’s bright celebrity phone boxes are scattered around the Northern Quarter. They are a cheerful addition to the cacophony of art from new and prolific artists.
On our final visit to Hare Street, we weren’t alone. Striking up conversation with another admirer of the mural, we pondered if the work was finished, discussed another new piece of street art by Ghost Patrol (we presume) and happily snapped away. Through conversation, we discovered we were chatting to D7606 himself and were lucky enough to be gifted with some of his stickers.
If you need convincing of this man’s fame, Being Erica’s cousin is featured in one of D7606 London’s paste ups. Small world, hey? Anyhow, she’s in good company as Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, Ian Curtis and Ian Brown are some of the celebrities featured.
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| New Addition of Art Work by Ghost Patrol (I presume) Another celebrity phone box by D7606 |
For some time now, I’ve been posting the occasional street art photograph over on Instagram. I’ve never claimed to be part of that scene. It’s a hobby of the boys, but it’s engulfing me to the point that I can’t resist snapping it when I see an artist I recognise or admire.
If you’re ever in Manchester, take a stroll into the Northern Quarter and see the wide range of art it has to offer. Who knows? By the time you visit, all this may be gone to make way for the new.
As always, much love,
Donna x