West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Visit now

West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

The Portico Library, Chinatown
24 February-8 April 2023
Date
Time
Session Features
24 Feb 2023
12:21 pm

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Kebin Dalton-Johnson
Book now

Manchester’s fabric history is well documented and the Portico will be hosting two women who designed patterns for fabrics made in Manchester for export to Ghana and Nigeria from the 1960s onwards. West Africa in Manchester is a conversation with Margaret Hickson and Ann. These two women worked on beautiful batik, floral and other designs inspired and informed by African decorative arts. They will bring their pattern books, material and designs to show how commissions were made to shimmer in the West African sunshine.

This event will explore objects related to Manchester’s fashion and fabric industry and makes us think Manchester’s place in the world. The talk will be chaired by Portico Drector (trustee) Kevin Dalton-Johnson, who is an internationally commissioned artist and the person who created Lancaster’s Captured Africans, the first public sculpture at a UK quayside to memorialise enslaved Africans.

What's on at The Portico Library

Where to go near West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

City Centre
Restaurant
Blinker

Elegant cocktail bar in the centre of Manchester, with a relaxed atmosphere and wonderfully friendly staff.

moose coffee manchester creative tourist
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Moose Coffee Manchester

Moose Coffee celebrates ‘the best meal of the day’ (brunch) in American style, with stack pancakes, potato hash, Huevos Rancheros and eggs any way. There’s always a queue.

Home-X
Manchester
Restaurant
Home-X

Home-X is the online spin-off of renowned Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone’s Six By Nico restaurant. This is geared around kit meals to cook at home.

Manchester
Restaurant
Pho Manchester

Pho does a fine line in pho, the noodle soup that’s a staple of Vietnamese street cuisine.

Manchester
Shop
Siam Smiles

Now based at the Great Northern, Siam Smiles is a food stop that’s hot on everyone’s lips.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

hunan chinese restaurant manchester
Chinatown
Restaurant
Hunan Restaurant

Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown, may be a bit off the beaten track – but it’s all the better for that.

What's on:

Westside Cowboy Press Image
MusicLiverpool
Westside Cowboy at Future Yard

With a ballooning fanbase, a debut EP out in the wild, and an album surely around the corner, Westside Cowboy’s current tour feels like a big one.

From £13.20
Helios at George Street Chapel: Man staring front, lit by an incandescent light
TheatreOldham
Helios at George Street Chapel

Oldham Coliseum takes its theatre off-site with Helios – a modern retelling of Greek myth blending storytelling, music and light.

From £12.00

Culture Guides

Hofesh Shechter - Theatre of Dreams at Lowry
Theatre in the North

Picks this month include bold visual art, wondrous opera and cinematic dance - plus a touch of ghostly storytelling for the Halloween season.

A white mattress is burning in a black rocky landscape.
Exhibitions in the North

In galleries around the North this autumn, you'll find tactile sculptures, Treasures with a capital 'T' and plant magic.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

It's busy month across the cinemas of the north as Halloween programming leads into two of the region's biggest film festivals.

Music in the North

From New York’s experimental underground to the most exciting sounds coming from local scenes, we're lining up a noisy autumn of gigs.

Poet Helen Mort.
Literature Events in the North

One to add to your TBR pile, our latest round-up is a bumper edition and features some amazing events in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and beyond...