A mural of the UK’s Eurovision hopeful Sam Ryder has been unveiled at Manchester Airport. It’s the work of iconic local artist Akse, who’s been behind a host of other murals across the city.
The new mural of the singer has been painted at the airport’s train station, and was commissioned by TransPennine Express. It also features a welcome in Ukrainian, as a nod to what would have been the host nation this year.
The contest will instead take place in Liverpool this weekend. Akse is responsible for a host of murals across the city, among them Marcus Rashford in Withington, Tony Wilson on Tib Street and others like Ray Charles in the Blues Kitchen and Ian Curtis in Northern Quarter bar Disorder.
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Speaking about the new work, Akse said: “It was a joy to work on this piece with TPE. Seeing passengers arriving at the station and being met with the mural of Sam Ryder certainly put a smile on their faces.
“Sam is a Eurovision legend so it’s great to be able to immortalise him with this art.”
Matthew Golton, Managing Director at TPE, added: “With thousands of customers using Manchester Airport Station and our services to connect to the host city Liverpool, we wanted to give them a memorable welcome.
“Sam Ryder became a Eurovision legend last year after his performance and so it felt only right to have his face be the first you see when arriving on our platforms.”
Ryder represented the UK last year, and became the first Eurovision artist to be nominated at the Brit Awards. This year, singer Mae Muller will be the UK entry, with her song I Wrote A Song.
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