The film is based on Take Me Back To Manchester, comic artist Oliver East’s most ambitious walking project to date, co-commissioned by the Lakes International Comic Art Festival and Manchester Museum with funding support from Arts Council England.

In April 2015 Oliver walked some 200 miles over 10 days from Waverley Station Edinburgh to Manchester, following exactly the route taken by the elephant Maharajah and his keeper Lorenzo Lawrence in 1872. Their route, mainly the current A7 and A6 passed through the Lake District, with overnight stops in Penrith and Kendal, where elephant and keeper bedded down at the White Hart Inn.

The story of Oliver’s walk was documented in film by Cumbria based film makers Dom Bush and Simon Sylvester.

Oliver is currently working on the Take Me Back To Manchester comic book that will be launched in May 2016 to accompany his exhibition of the same name at Manchester Museum. He will be a special guest at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival (16th – 18th October) www.comicartfestival.com

Oliver will also make 20 large scale drawings that will form the basis of an exhibition at Manchester Museum alongside the skeleton of Maharajah. The exhibition of Take Me Back To Manchester is pencilled for early 2016. 

Oliver East is an artist who gets his creative energy and inspiration from walking predetermined routes and creating comics as a result. Previous works include the Trains are… Mint series ( walks along train lines in and around Manchester );  Sweardown and The Homesick Truant’s Cumbrian Yarn which was published last year. He also designed a few album covers for Elbow (Build a Rocket Boys and The Seldom Seen Kid).

“This is a story that sits somewhere at the back of most Mancunian’s memories without ever really knowing what happened,” says Oliver of the original elephant walk. “There is a lot written about Belle Vue Zoo itself, and Maharajah’s life there, but little to nothing on the actual walk Lorenzo undertook, which makes it ripe to mine for linear narrative.  

“The burgeoning relationship between animal trainer and animal, whilst undergoing such an epic trek is interesting to explore in itself, aside from the task of getting to Manchester.”
Film screenings  FREE ENTRY

Brockhole Visitor Centre, Windermere, Cumbria LA23 1LJ
Friday 8th May – Sunday 17th May 2015
Opening Hours  10am-5pm
Web: www.brockhole.co.uk

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