New photography exhibition spotlights our inspiring ‘Greater Mancunians’

Question. What do Noel Gallagher, Dame Sarah Storey and John Cooper Clarke have in common?

Answer. They’re all Mancunians. But they’re not just Mancunians.

They are Greater Mancunians.

Not just people who are from Greater Manchester but people who have excelled in their chosen careers.

Greater Mancunians is also the name of a ground-breaking photography project featuring images of some of Manchester’s most famous and influential people, shot at numerous locations across the city.

And it’s coming to Manchester next month.

Manchester College

As part of a landmark exhibition at Manchester Central Library’s Main Exhibition Hall, 150 students from The Manchester College have participated in the project and taken photographs of over great Mancunians including musicians Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr, athletes Diane Modahl and Ricky Hatton, and poet John Cooper-Clarke.

Greater Mancunians was launched in 2017 when student Harry Yeates captured an image of national treasure, John Cooper Clarke as part of Harry’s final year project.

Photography tutor at The Manchester College and project lead, Harry Potts, encouraged other students to think of more people who were born and bred in Greater Manchester or who have made it their home and, in some way, have shaped the region culturally.

Years in the making

“Greater Mancunians has been seven years in the making and we are delighted that it has culminated in the amazing work of our student photographers being showcased in one of the city’s most iconic exhibition spaces,” says Harry.

“What started out as a mission to enable a student to achieve their aspirations and photograph one of their inspirations has grown into a social history photography project that truly highlights the unique place Manchester is, shining a light on the exceptional people who have both put the city on the map internationally and helped to shape it into the world-leading city it is today”.

Noel Gallagher is one of the Greater Mancunians, seen posing outside India House, Whitworth Street where he used to live and where he wrote the first two Oasis albums.

Ground zero

“India House is literally ground zero in the story of my musical life. I moved into a flat there with my then girlfriend around 1989 ~ broke and bored. By the time I left in 1993 I’d joined my little brother’s band and had written Live Forever and Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”.

Another of the featured guests is writer, actor and voice of Gogglebox, Craig Cash.

“We’re all shaped by this inspirational place in which we’ve lived, and by the people who inhabit it,” says Craig.

 

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“Hopefully we’ll have made our own mark on it. Dare I say even changed it a little? So, the next generation of Greater Mancunians can pick up the baton, run with it and change in some more. I’m sure these excellent photography students will do just that. The cultural evolution of Greater Manchester is in safe hands.”

“Greater Mancunians is a fantastic example of not only the enriching opportunities that our amazing staff provide for students who study with us but also the amazing talent that our students possess,” says Rachel Curry, principal of The Manchester College.

“The photographs in the exhibition are truly stunning and I am delighted that our students’ work will be on show for people from across the city and beyond to come and see for themselves.

“Everyone involved in the project can be incredibly proud of what they have achieved, and I would like to thank all of those people, from Harry Potts , who planted the seed of an idea for a project in 2017 and has nurtured and curated the ambition with care throughout the years it has run, to our wider talented photography teachers and technicians who made it possible.

“They have all given our students the skills and belief that they can achieve incredible things. And of course, the contributors who wanted to help us deliver the vision and it goes without saying the students, for making Greater Mancunians such a success.”

The Greater Mancunians photography exhibition will run from Friday 19 April to Sunday 30 June at Manchester’s Central Library. Entrance is free.

You can find out more information by clicking here