The Irish Nation Art Trail
Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor
Throughout March, you can take yourself on an artistic tour of Manchester with the Irish Nation Art Trail. This series of mosaic portraits by prolific artist Mark Kennedy features cultural cornerstones like Samuel Beckett as well as underappreciated stars like Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott. Dotted around the city’s arts venues, restaurants, bookshops and libraries, the artwork is ready for you to explore – offering the perfect opportunity to learn more about these Irish cultural icons and historical figures, while you spend some time appreciating Mark Kennedy’s work.
The trail is the culmination of 10 years of planning and a lot of hard graft from a very small team of committed individuals. It’s both a history lesson and an artistic experience; you can read about each figure captured in mosaic as you tour through the venues and locations. Informative and accessible, there are written guides and online QR codes available at every venue so that you can navigate your own route around the trail. Conveniently, all of the locations are free to access and there are lots of places where you can break up the trail with refreshments. We particularly recommend calling into The Koffee Pot for a taco en route, where you’ll also find an artwork of champion boxer Katie Taylor.
Mark Kennedy’s work can be famously seen adorning the walls of Afflecks Palace as well as outside many hospitality institutions around the city. He’s created 17 portraits for this project, to reflect St. Patrick’s Day. Each one captures the importance of the Irish diaspora in Manchester and how individuals, whether they’re first or second-generation Irish, still massively influence culture here. It’s estimated that 35% of the city has some Irish ancestry, making it an ideal location to launch the trail.
Kennedy describes his work as storytelling rather than art. He just uses tiles to tell stories and this trail certainly does that. One of the highlights of the tour is a striking portrait of Sinéad O’Connor, who can be seen at the entrance to the bar in New Century. This work was created by Mark’s studio assistant Mary Goodwin and has a softer style than some of the more punk portraits in the trail.
Commissioned by Irish Mancunian and supported by global art producer Wild in Art, the Irish Nation Art Trail runs until the end of March – so catch it while you can.
