A landmark photography project
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Manchester College supported by Manchester City Council is proud to introduce ‘Greater Mancunians’ - a student led, landmark photography project. Students are in the process of photographing those people born, bred, or who have made Greater Manchester their home and who have in some way shaped the city and its surrounding boroughs for the greater good.
The ground-breaking photography project features images of some of Manchester’s famous and influential people - shot at numerous locations across the city. 95 students from The Manchester College participated in the project, taking photographs of 120 contributors, including musicians Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr; athletes Keely Hodgkinson and Ricky Hatton; local politicians Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner, actors Maxine Peake, Steve Coogan and Bill Roache; artists Stan Chow and AKSE P19, and a plethora of local figures and community champions.
The principle aim is to give talented young students employability/work experience skills so vital when breaking into the creative industries.
The project is very much a celebration of the Greater Mancunian spirit.
The Greater Mancunians project (phase 1) was exhibited at the iconic Manchester Central Library, Main Exhibition Hall and published as a book in 2024. Six years in the making the phase 1 exhibition and book featured 120 contributors and received excellent local, regional and national reviews.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The project began when class of 2017 student Harry Yeates expressed a desire to photograph performance poet John Cooper Clarke (JCC) as part of his final major project. JCC was due to perform at the Albert Hall in Manchester and a hastily arranged one-to-one the morning after the show saw Harry photograph JCC under Blackfriars Bridge next to his life-sized stencil by the artist Stewy. The experience was such a positive one for Harry and his final project work grabbed the plaudits at the college’s end of year show.
We repeated this collaborative formula with a handful of other famous Mancunian creatives and slowly a unique mini project was organically being realised.
Over the next two years the list of Greater Mancunians grew steadily, with notable contributors such as Andy Burnham, Peter Saville and Johnny Marr, energising the project and grabbing significant social media attention. We continue to have a growing list of exciting new contributors waiting to join the project.
The pandemic of course had an impact on the project. During hard lockdown all activity ceased, as restrictions eased, we managed to continue the shoots, albeit with a single student photographer wearing a face mask and social distancing.
Post pandemic the photography continued at a pace with the inclusion of many more notable names: Maxine Peake, Paddy McGuinness, Steve Coogan and Noel Gallagher to name but a few. In 2024 Phase 1 of Greater Mancunians was exhibited at Manchester Central Library to fantastic reviews.
GREATER MANCUNIANS 2
Phase 2 of the project launched in Spring 2025. The success of Phase 1 and a realisation that there are still so many Greater Mancunians to celebrate has offered a challenge we can not resist!
