Azar and Regina, Waiting on the Tenth Floor, Ancoats

Lesley Young 1942

Summary

Two women in their mid-twenties, one wearing a white head scarf and the other a red jumper, are seated on red chairs, on the tenth floor of a building. On the wall directly behind them grafitti, in Urdu script, is scrawled across the wall in white & pink ink. The view from the window behind the two women shows blocks of flats to the right and left of the picture. In the centre of the view are houses, roads and tower blocks set against a brown & blue coloured sky. The sitters were Lesley Young's students, Azar is a political refugee from the regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini, while Regina is a Mancunian of Nigerian heritage. The Urdu text translates as 'I live in Longsight. In this picture are two calm looking girls. Can you read Urdu?'.

Display Label

Manchester. What's your view? Is the horizon line the only constant in this small town turned second city? Artists have responded to Manchester painting the city's rapidly changing views; from rural beginnings, to industrialisation and expansion, through decline and then regeneration. Prospects, people, buildings, spaces all change, a continuing process. Vibrant, chaotic, modern, historic ... See this city.