Salford artist Sian Elizabeth Absalom, most famously known as ‘Fanny Gogh’, is creating an art piece to mark Salford turning 100 years old.
Sian is digitally painting 100 “real, working class legendary Salford faces” who belong to the city and have given back to the community, and who have “a story to tell”.
She is asking for nominations from the public to put forward names of those who deserve to be part of her project, saying “it could be a nurse who has helped you”.
The first face to feature in her work will be her legendary uncle, Albert Finney, most commonly known for acting in the James Bond film Skyfall.
Other confirmed faces include Chris Eccleston, Catherine Tyldesley, Mike Sweeney and Gayle Gamble.
Sian is giving herself a year to create the mural, which will then be auctioned to raise money for the Salford charity Dancing with Dementia. She is planning to paint each face individually on cobbled stone, which will pair with a poem she has written for the centenary.
Sky’s grey again … shockin’,I know,
clouds so low they’re ‘avin a go.
But don’t get it twisted, don’t get it wrong,
the sunshine round ‘ere’s been people all along.
Red brick walls with a red hot flame,
community fire is never tame.
Colourful sparks that light the same
old dark corners, time and again.
Strength in bones and brick red streets,
passion burning where the cold wind beats.
Humour sharp, quick on its feet,
turning hard days into something sweet.
The banter and laughter keep spirits high,
but don’t think that’s it, don’t even try.
Cross that line and you’ll soon find why
respect round ‘ere is do or die.
And don’t put me down for the way that I speak,
it’s not ‘common’ it’s efficient .. saves time each week.
I say what I mean, no fancy disguise,
No long explanations, just honest eyes.
Them rainy nights in, boxed by the wall,
made me hungry for places not brick at all.
Wanted the world, not just next door,
but Salford stuck with me … to the core.
So yeah … sky’s grey, always has been,
but hope lives loud round ‘ere, loud and keen.
Rain might fall but we still stand tall,
Salford through and through
and we’ll outlaugh it all.
Sian said that she felt inspired to take on the project when caring for a man who is autistic and has Tourette’s.
She takes him to the Dancing with Dementia events, where they have big plans to celebrate the centenary, such as hosting a fashion show. A trustee suggested Sian could collaborate on their plans, which she agreed upon.
She is working to help create artwork in hospital dementia gardens, such as Salford Royal.
Sian said helping the man had become the “highlight of her week” and that he had inspired her to take on more artwork than she ever has done before. She described feeling like she had found her “purpose” again.
Sian also has strong plans to include the NHS faces that helped save her life when she suffered from pericarditis, a collapsed lung and pneumonia in 2010.
“I found out I had a hole in my heart, so I had to have open heart surgery”.
She recalled being in a heart care unit for three weeks and said: “They really did save my life, I was dying.”
Sian has plans to write a book alongside her artwork, to talk about why people were chosen to be part of the 100, and her whole art process. She is looking forward to getting started and said it is going to be hard narrowing down who fits right.
Salford-born Sian travelled for 10 years pursuing a career within artistry in locations such as Hong Kong, but said that she had a strong urge to return to her “roots”, and that she is “more proud to be from here” than ever, at a time when Salford is booming.
She described feeling like she “lost herself, but then found herself again”.
Photographed by Hollie Smith.
