Stockport Mural: Merseyway Centre, April 2026
Artists: Ela Skorksa and Shaun Azrak
THE PROPOSAL:
We propose a design merging Ela’s city-inspired abstract analogue photography with Shaun’s nature-energized drawings. Our aim is to encourage city dwellers to mindfully reflect on the beauty that surrounds them and consider their relationship with nature within the urban metropolis.
Our combined styles are a perfect manifestation of the geographical positioning of the city of Stockport, situated just a stone's throw from the magnificent beauty of the Peak District, where both worlds co-exist side by side, bringing equal inspiration, whether it’s the moss on the trees or a concrete building in Stockport. Inspiration has no boundary and can be found anywhere.
THE SITE:
The development of the Merseyway Centre in 1970 marked the town’s “journey to modernity”, with the opening of department stores like British Home Stores, Marks and Spencer and Woolworths. The 1978 concrete murals by Joyce Ballot and Henry Collins were commissioned by BHS and are being monitored by local heritage groups following the closure of the store in 2016. A major landmark, the Merseyway clock tower, is the site of a concrete frieze by Alan Boyson, “Screen Wall”, completed in 1965.
Alan Boyson ‘Screen Wall’ concrete frieze, 1965
Ela and Shaun worked with Stockport Council to locate a suitable site in this context, and agreed on a concrete footbridge that crosses over Deanery Way South and is in a prominent location on the pedestrian route connecting the historic area of the town to the Merseyway Centre.
BHS Murals, 1978
