The British Pop Archive (BPA) was launched at The John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester on May 18, 2022. The launch featured an exhibition titled Collection, which “showcases iconic items from post-war British popular culture, including archives from Joy Division, The Haçienda, and Granada TV.”

A professor and co-founder of The British Pop Archive took the podium to speak and took a photograph of the audience then posted it on X.

Shocked at the ‘negative’ response he removed the photograph from X which left the comments floating in digital obscurity. The issue disintegrated from the records. But word travels faster than the speed of sound these days.

I saw the photograph and it triggered an idea. I was in the final days of my tenure as Chancellor at The University of Manchester. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a part of my university so I approached John Hodgson , the head curator at John Rylands and he provided me with space and time. Then I approached John McGrath the chief executive of Aviva studios (home of Factory International) and he gave me a team of brilliant producers.

On 18th July I replicated the disappeared photograph taken at The British Pop Archive but this time I included people of colour: Music producers, international DJs, theatre producers, nationally renown artists, actors and chart topping singers, fashion designers, photographers, poets and novelists, all from the North West of England. Priti Shikotra is the photographer and here is the photograph

Some beautiful minds of black and brown creatives in Manchester taken on July 18th 2022 at John Rylands as a response to the disappered photo taken on May 20th in the same spot for the launch of The British Pop Archive.

1, Jaydev Mistry, 2, Clive Hunte, 3, Yusra Warsama and Azariah Hercules, 4, Princess Arinola Adegbite (P. A. Bitez), 5, Astarte Cara, 6, Dawn Edge, 7, Sidnie Pantry, 8, Shobna Gulati, 9, Francia Messado, 10, mandla rae, 11, Claud Cunningham, 12, Goz Ugochukwu, 13, SuAndi, 14, Sharon Raymond, 15, Jackie Bailey, 16, Tarnya Coley, 17, Afshan D'Souza-Lodhi, 18, Lemn Sissay, 19, Carla Henry, 20, Rebecca Swarray (RebeccaNeverBecky), 21, Dawn Walters, 22, Lorraine Ballintine, 23, Jyothi Kuna, 24, Farai Nhakaniso, 25, Pat Bartoli, 26, Atiha Chaudry, 27, Cherrelle Rosario, 28, Yusra Warsama and Azariah Hercules (duplicate of 3), 29, Sabina Shah, 31, Raphale Swaby, 32, Adeola Adelakun, 33, Sylvia Tella, 34, Angeli Sweeney, 35, Courtney Hayles, 36, Chris Jam, 37, Liza Ward, 38, Abenaa May, 39, Danielle Rhoda, 40, Olatunde Spence, 41, Heidi El-Kholy, 42, Shada Iqbal, 43, Sebah Chaudhry, 44, Keisha Thompson, 45, Cheryl Martin, 46, Rachel McFarlane, 47, Kyle Soo, 48, Yvonne Shelton, 49, Venessa Scott, 50, Faz Barber, 51, Halah El-Kholy, 52, Leila Herandi, 53, Junior Akinola, 54, Jasmin Issaka, 55, Jamie Williams, 56, Khayam Shah, 57, Charles Lauder, 58, Armand Beasley, 59, Shireen Ashton, 60, Pops Roberts, 61, Jenna G, 62, Kwong Lee, 63, Balraj Singh Samrai, 64, Stanley Chow, 65, Amrit Randhawa, 66, Paulette Constable (DJ Paulette), 67, Griot Gabriel Oyediwura, 68, Clare Chun-yu Liu, 69, Stephan Agbogbe, 70, Delroy Pottinger (DRS), 71, Tony Watt, 72, Cookie Love Howard, 73, Becky Morris, 74, Colin Stone, 75, Andrea Ahimie-Carthy (DJ Andrea Trout), 76, Weng-U Pun, 77, Mikey Don, 78, Santana Guerout.

Some people were not at my photoshoot who should’ve been: NIhal Arthanayake is not there. Rowetta is not there Karen Gabay was ill, Johnny Jay isn’t there and neither is Arun Ghosh. Neither is Benji Reid or Rohan Heath. Barry Adamson isn’t there either and neither is Hewan Clarke or Segun Lee French. The painter Michael Browne isn’t there. Hetain Patel isn’t there either. Nor Segun

Why didn’t I say anything at the time back in 2022? Was it because I was in the final days as Chancellor at the University of Manchester and I didn’t want this to be the news? Was it because I know how committed the co-founder is? Was it because I know it wasn’t actually his fault? Was it because I am tired of calling out the obvious? Was it because I didn’t want to be labelled and disabled by negativity? Was it because I love my city?

A disproportionate amount of the people in my photo carry stories of default ostracism, disappearing evidence and preclusion. They are told they are being ‘negative’ if they identify it. It’s nuts because they are all, every single one of them, positive people. Just look at their beautiful faces.

I will end on this. There were two young women in my John Rylands Photo Shoot. They are Ronke Jane and Adeola Adelakun. They produce Black Creative Trailblazers at Aviva Studios. Here they are talking to Nihal Arthanayake at there event this Saturday night in 2025 .

Nihal Arthanayake in conversation with Ronke and Adeola.

Find them on Instagram. Take a look at the shots below. They are incredible. As trustees of Factory International Nihal and I attended their event at Aviva studios on Saturday night and it was jaw droppingly good. Inclusive excellence is inclusive intelligence. Next years event will be their third . I love Manchester. Exclusion is not something we do well because “we do things differently here…” right? This blog states that what happened at the launch was a culturally significant moment in the history of The British Pop Archive.

Black Creative Trailblazers. Manchester 2025. All my people right here right now.

What happened at the launch of The British Pop Archive in Manchester?