The street artists from outside Manchester who are transforming the face our city

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Street art and Manchester have, in recent times, become almost synonymous with one another.

From Akse’s mural of Marcus Rashford in Withington to Qubek's giant bees on the side of Koffee Pot in the Northern Quarter, there’s exquisite designs, immersive think-pieces and stunning portraits to be found around every corner.

We’ve seen time and time again how street art can hammer home an important message or bring life to an otherwise abandoned back street.

But it’s not always been seen like that.

READ MORE: Afflecks is turning 40 - and searching for fans to be immortalised in history

Thankfully, Manchester’s street art scene is as bustling as ever. In fact, there’s a whole host of artists actively coming to Manchester in a bid to be a part of it.

We’ve spoken to two artists who hail from outside Manchester that now happily call it their un-adopted home - and it’s all down to how the city-region took them in as one of their own when starting out.

Jay Gilleard, under the name of Cbloxx, is one half of UK street art muralist duo Nomad Clan.

Originally from Huddersfield, Jay now lives halfway between their hometown and Manchester in the village of Marsden.

“It was something I picked up as a kid,” Jay explains of how they got into art.

“I just spent a lot of my time drawing. I wasn’t particularly good at school - I wasn’t achieving and I was struggling - so I had to kind of find my own roots really.

“I spent some time working at Subway and in bars all while practising my art.”

Jay, who uses they/them pronouns, said they had a ‘fleeting time’ at art school before realising the experience was ‘too abstract’ for them.

“Street art basically found me,” they confess.

“I was a fan to begin with, I was looking up to certain street