During the depths of the national lockdown, Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse commissioned local illustrator MOZE (Becki Miller) to create a beautifully uplifting and undeniably Northern mural to keep Manchester’s spirits high during uncertain times. The simple message, ‘THIS TOO SHALL PASS’ wrapped around the colourful letters L-O-V-E reminded Mancunian’s to ‘stay safe our kid’.
The overwhelmingly positive response to the artwork kickstarted the Great Northern’s Message of Hope campaign which invited people across Greater Manchester to get creative and spread their own gratitude and love during the Covid-19 crisis. Mancunians of all ages and abilities were asked to send in images of their own inspirational artworks to be displayed at the Great Northern once it was safe for doors to reopen.
Over the past five months the artwork has been available to view via an online gallery. But now, as Greater Manchester and the rest of the UK are adapting to the new normal, the Great Northern has combined almost 50 Messages of Hope to create of beautiful window gallery of inspirational pieces of art. The artists, Mancunians, are from all walks of life, from school kids, to some of Manchester’s best loved professional artists!
The striking and heart-warming piece takes pride of place on the window of the Great Northern, facing one of the city’s busiest streets, Deansgate. Passers-by will have the opportunity to see all the pieces together, and be reminded of how Manchester pulled together and stayed strong and compassionate in true Northern fashion.
Featuring NHS rainbows and Manchester worker bees galore, the new mural truly shows how loving and resilient Manchester is as a city, whilst reminding locals to be grateful, yet remain vigilant in the fight against Covid-19.
On the unveiling of the artwork, Mark Schofield, Centre Director said: “After the incredible response to our ‘THIS TOO SHALL PASS’ mural we wanted to give Mancunians a voice to share positivity during what was a really tough time. The submissions we received were amazing and very powerful, so we thought it would only be right to put these on display at the Great Northern. We hope the public enjoy looking at these as much as we have!”
The new mural has been unveiled this month and will be visible on Deansgate.
