The Feminist Art of (Not) Walking in Manchester

Research Seminar - Department of Art History and Cultural Practices, University of Manchester

The Feminist Art of (Not) Walking in Manchester

Dr Morag Rose, University of Liverpool

Abstract

Once a month, every month, for almost twenty years I have stood somewhere in Manchester and waited to see who will join me for a walk*.

I share the invitation widely and its open to anyone, it’s always free but I can’t tell anyone where we will go together because I simply don’t know. When they arrive, and they always do, we drift, guided by paper planes or pigeons, prohibition signs or culverted rivers, our senses or our hearts. Every month a different prompt or provocation to gently guide our wandering.

My waiting began as an activist experiment, a way to subvert city streets increasingly threatened by gentrification, homogenisation and privatisation. I wanted to explore ideas around psychogeography, and so co-founded The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement). We believe “there is magic in the Mancunian rain and the streets belong to everyone”.

The beautiful thing about walking this way is the serendipity, the conversations and encounters with people and place. Over the years a community has formed and together we share stories and walk ourselves into the city. Every month I wait to see where we will go next…

In this seminar I will share some of the things I have learnt, and unlearnt, about walking in Manchester. I will also draw on work from some of the amazing walking artists and creative wanderers I have encountered along the way.

*My walking is inclusive of all bodies, welcoming wheelchairs, mobility aids and other assistive technologies. My Feminism is intersectional and always learning. I believe our desire lines might just be able to change the world…

Biography

Morag Rose is a walking artist, activist and academic. She founded Manchester based psychogeography collective The LRM (Loiterers Resistance Movement) in 2006, and on the First Sunday of every month they facilitate a free public wander somewhere in the city. Morag is also a senior lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Liverpool. Her work focuses on public space, regeneration, access, equality and the power of creative, communal walking. Morag has performed, exhibited, published and shared her work widely. Her first book, The Feminist Art of Walking, is published by Pluto in October 2025.