Friends of MULE panellist spotlight: Hayley Flynn
Article published: Thursday, November 14th 2013
The fourth panellist Q&A before the Whose City? event takes place is with Hayley Flynn, the author of the Manchester-born architecture and social history blog, Skyliner.
Skyliner’s keen following and regular readership has led to recommendations and positive attention from local radio shows, national newspapers and fellow Manchester blogs. Through Skyliner, Hayley now conducts local tours, scouts locations for filming and contributes to other local magazines. At the beginning of 2013, she curated her own art exhibition, Streetview, featuring work by artists who depicted cartographic or architectural aspects of Manchester. Since then, Hayley ran an art ‘swap shop’ at The Spoon Inn in Chorlton, and another exhibition is in the pipeline for the future.
MULE: What is the aim of Skyliner?
Hayley: At first it was to prompt myself into exploring the parts of the city I didn’t notice, to look up and to notice the city from the perspective almost of a child. To question how a building looked, ask what was behind the door, to experience the city in an altogether more alert way. It soon became more than that – it became a kind of bid to raise awareness of our built heritage and also, in some cases, to try and credit public art and sculpture to an artist that was previously anonymous. I start with the aesthetics of a place but I quickly turn to the story of it – each building and landmark has a remarkable story, but this is about finding out what that is and making it known so that we might all become more conscious tourists in our own homes.
MULE: Has the city changed since you moved here? If so, in what ways?
Hayley: It changes all the time, it doesn’t move in the way London does with a constant race to find the next new scene, but its facade is always under construction. I’ve seen much of what I love bulldozed without good reason. I don’t know what else to say about that – it’s sad; we all know how desolate Spinningfields can feel, we all see that same blueprint being retraced over culturally interesting parts of the city.
MULE: How do you go about planning your Skyliner tours?
Hayley: In a most meandering way. Whenever I have free time I’ll spend it walking around the city, usually with a camera. Half of the time I’m taking photos, the other half I’m asking to be let into buildings to explore them – somewhere along the way a tour reveals itself to me. Most of the time I base them on the best responses I’ve had from constantly being in tour guide mode with friends – I’ve heard parts of my own tours being told to me by a stranger in a bar before, and that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve.
MULE: You have a book in the pipeline – what can we expect to read in it?
Hayley: The book is one I was asked to write, so it’s not a Skyliner book as such. I see it as more of a research project that happens to be in print. It’s a historical book looking at Manchester now and then through 90 different buildings.
Questions: Ian Pennington
For more information on the Friends of MULE panel discussion, click here. It’s on Thursday 14 November, free entry, upstairs at Black Lion and doors open at 7.45pm.
More: News
Comments
No comments found
The comments are closed.
