Risk Manchester Airport Tagging

yellow graffiti tag in a concrete underpass tunnel

Runway underpass tags

Some old photos of graffiti in the pedestrian tunnels under Manchester Airport’s runways as they cross Wilmslow Road. All of this graffiti has since been painted-over by local authorities who say down with this sort of thing! I actually found the graffiti to be quite intriguing whilst passing through on many bike rides. It added a little narrative and flare to an otherwise quite unwelcoming space. A lot of the tags were old and had been in-situ for as long as I have been cycling this route. A large number of them were created by ‘taggers’ or graffiti artists from the Wythenshawe massive – or so it appears, with many tags noting this.

I quite like graffiti in the right context and I would consider a remote underpass, such as this, to be one of those appropriate contexts. I’ve never understood people who feel that this sort of thing somehow conveys an atmosphere of threat or danger. Graffiti, as with all art, is usually created by thoughtful non-violent people with talent and if I had ever been lucky enough to encounter a live tagging crew at work then I would have enjoyed making an interesting photo doc with them.

Sadly the tunnels are now just bland and characterless which makes them feel even less safe. There is an enhanced sense of the space being off-limits and even more dehumanised.

Title: Risk tag - Manchester airport
Taken: 19 October, 2016
Aperture: ƒ/8
Shutter speed: 1/4s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 16mm
Copyright: Oliver Wood, all rights reserved