Rochdale once again played host to a major street art event as Common Walls arrived in the town centre. Following in the footsteps of 2019’s Rochdale Uprising Festival. The project saw street art interventions created across the town. Over the course of a week, blank walls were transformed into striking works of public art.
Curated by artist AYLO (Hayley Garner), the festival brought together a line-up of internationally renowned artists alongside local talent. Each mural responding in its own way to Rochdale’s history, people and culture. Walls spreading across Drake Street, Baillie Street and Milton Street.
Building on 2019
The 2019 Rochdale Uprising Festival introduced murals by artists such as Nomad Clan, Tankpetrol and Curtis Hylton. Each bringing a sense of place and heritage. With Common Walls, Rochdale’s mural trail has grown further. Adding a fresh chapter to the towns story while creating landmarks that will last for years to come.
Mural Map
The ten artworks are all located within a short walk of Rochdale town centre. A free map is available to guide visitors around the trail. The murals can be enjoyed at any time. Each wall contributing to a larger celebration of art in public space.
Download the Common Walls Festival Guide & Map (PDF)
Where to Find the Murals
Baillie Street
AYLO
As well as curating the festival, AYLO is an established muralist who also paints as part of the acclaimed duo ‘Nomad Clan’. Her works often featuring thoughtful characters and dreamlike imagery. She is passionate about community engagement and about using art to uplift public space.
Dreams Never End
AYLO’s mural takes its title from the New Order track ‘Dreams Never End‘ which was recorded in Rochdale. It highlights the ongoing fight for women’s rights. At the forefront stands a figure holding a Votes for Women leaflet. Behind her drifts the ghostly presence of Anne Tweedale. A semi-mythical character created by the early co-operative movement to encourage women’s participation. Long before the suffragettes, the co-op had granted women a voice in decision-making. This helped pave the way for the eventual formation of the Women’s Guild.
Unseen Stories
Painted in flax-blue tones. The mural honours the unseen labour of women who spun linen at home before the cotton mills rose to prominence. Their work sustained Rochdale during the cotton famine, when wool and linen trades kept the town afloat. AYLO weaves together images of blue smoke, spinning wheels, and factory cogs. They evoke the shift from home industry to the factory floor. It is a reminder of hidden histories and the invisible backbones of families and communities.
SMUG
Originally from Australia and now based in Glasgow, Smug is renowned for his hyper-realistic large-scale portraits. Often featuring everyday people, his works carry warmth, humour, and an intimate connection to place. The work for Rochdale Common Walls features local resident ‘Auntie’ Suriya Begum who was nominated after an open call.
Celebrate the Everyday
“I like to hero the everyday person, that wouldn’t normally be celebrated” explained SMUG. Someone that the normal person on the street might be able to associate with. But also to put into the public domain someone who is ordinary but heroic in their own way. “She was so confused as to why I would paint her… and that’s exactly why I would”
Auntie Suriya
SMUG prefers to paint regular people with interesting features that stand out on the wall. He also particularly likes older people, a group that he says can often be forgotten. . Suriya as a result is shown looking out onto the street with a bird on her shoulder. The Red-Vented Bulbul’ it is common throughout southern Asia and a nod to Auntie’s Karachi roots.
Onur
Swiss artist Onur is known for blending realism with the energy of street art. His large-scale murals have a feeling of oil paintings about them. Trained in painting, set design and graphic design, it is this craft he brings to his work. Sometimes even using UV-sensitive paints for hidden details.
The Rochdale Hounds
His work in Rochdale features four sleeping dogs. Inspired by the Gracie Fields song ‘The Rochdale Hounds‘ he has imagined the animals resting after the hunt. A music hall type number the lyrics hint to Gracie’s own life growing up in the town. ONUR wrote the lyrics of the song on the wall prior to painting, in the place of a doodle grid.
Seca One
Seca One is a self-taught street artist. His work is inspired by his early encounters with murals and a passion for community. Having started in graffiti, he now uses his art to inspire others and to bring people together through creative, public projects.
So, Why Don’t You Join In?
This vibrant mural in Rochdale, features the phrase “So, why don’t you join in?” It draws its inspiration from the iconic Happy Mondays track “24 Hour Party People“. The artwork channeling the euphoric, communal energy of Manchester’s early 1990s rave scene. It invites viewers to step into a world of nostalgia. To experience the shared joy of rave culture and a happier time. With its nod to the legendary Hacienda nightclub and the city’s rich musical heritage. The mural captures a moment in time when music, art and togetherness defined a generation.
Cargo Studios
Rochdale was known for its music scene and a range of bands recorded in the town. The Cargo Studios in particular became crucial to that early ‘Manchester’ sound. For the movie ’24 Hour Party People’ one of the scenes was filmed on the roof of the building.
Culture Coop
Working under the banner of Culture Coop are artists Zahirah Hafiz, Elizabeth Chandler and Evan Barlow. Together re-imagining the past with communities in Rochdale. Exploring the history of a former textile warehouse through the lens of Islamic arts. During the weekend of the festival, six painted panels were installed in the bricked-up windows of the building.
Fabric on Boarded Windows
Each window features a unique design. Drawing on Islamic-inspired geometry, rich colours, and bold pattern work. The artworks transformed the boarded-up spaces with bursts of colour. The panels not only celebrate heritage, identity, and creativity but also helping to re-shape the atmosphere of the building itself.
Drake Street
Insane51
Known for his unique 3D double-exposure murals. Greek artist Insane51 creates murals that come alive when viewed through red/blue 3D glasses or via QR code. His striking portraits often revealing hidden dimensions beneath the surface.
Wild Wonders
For Rochdale Common Walls his work is inspired by a poem called ‘wild wonders’ written by local school children. It’s a poem that was chosen because of it’s focus on the future. Particularly the idea of planting flowers and watching them grow. Taking that starting point the mural features a field with a man in the middle looking down. The man can be seen in different ways, dependent both on the viewer and the lens you look through.
Art of Contrasts
Insane’s work is often about contrast. Saying that “without sadness, you cannot have happiness”. Adding that it is this kind of contrast which is really what his work is all about.
Lei Mai
Lei Mei is an artist based in Manchester, originally from Liverpool. She has a diverse background in street art, mural painting and various artistic mediums. Her work in Rochdale is bold and expansive. Combining big geometric patterns with delicate wireframe designs, inspired by digital art, layered on top.
Welcome to Rochdale
Her mural is situated at a prominent entrance to Rochdale at the top of Drake Street. The design features fine wireframe cotton bolls. These have been rendered like digital frameworks awaiting layers of detail. They have been set against a backdrop of bright, bold geometric patterns. This striking contrast between skeletal precision and vibrant colour reflects both the area’s textile heritage and its evolving creative energy.
Milton Street
Epod
Working across a combination of fine art and graffiti, Epod creates murals that blend organic forms with futuristic motifs. His style and use of colour lend themselves to visionary creations but with a retro vibe.
Totally Wired
For Rochdale Common Walls EPOD’s work was inspired by the song ‘Totally Wired‘ by ‘The Fall’. It was recorded in Rochdale’s Cargo studios in 1980. This became the starting point for work focused on injecting energy into the wall he was painting. Featuring a woman, she appears to be wired herself to what we assume to be audio devices. It’s like they are pulsing through her as she then emits energy through her fingers at the other end.
Music and Energy
This concept of being totally wired then has multiple meanings. One to the music but another to the landscape around. The wall is on a thoroughfare with people passing daily. EPOD wanted to inject energy into a previously bland wall. Something that could lift and change the environment and experience of people passing by.
Cabasa Carnival Arts
Cabasa Arts is a carnival arts organisation based in Tameside. They are best known for creating vibrant costumes and outdoor presentations. For Rochdale Common Walls, they painted their first-ever mural, a powerful piece focused on women’s reproductive health.
Into the Light
Centred on the figure of a woman emerging from the depths into the light. The mural symbolises a journey from struggle and pain toward self-discovery and strength. Surrounding her are jellyfish. They represent the pain experienced by women with Endometriosis. Something that women have described to them as feeling like electric shocks from jellyfish tentacles. Running along the bottom are pansies. Hardy flowers that push through cracks and show toughness. Then patterned throughout are vibrant global textile patterns and symbolic motifs that speak of hope and unity. Together, these elements celebrate resilience. Showing pain transformed into beauty and strength.
Unheard Stories
Part of the ‘Unheard Stories’ project, Cabasa collaborated with Soul Sisters, a women’s organisation in Rochdale. They listened to lived experiences and develop the mural’s concept of resilience based on those conversations. The stories they gathered revealing how women show strength and perseverance in the face of reproductive health challenges.
Rochdale Common Walls was visited between 11-14 September 2025. For more information about the festival take a look at this article and their instagram page.
For more Inspiring City articles you will like, take a look at…
- The Street Art Murals of the 2019 Rochdale Uprising Festival
- Rochdale Uprising Brings Top Street Artists to the Town
- Paint Jam takes over Rochdale Town Centre for the Uprising Festival
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