The area has often captured the imagination of amateur and professional photographers and a large collection of images is available to view online as part of Visual Resources in the Special Collections, Archives+, and shorts and films at North West Film Archive.
The 2017 exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery ‘Shirley Baker: Women and children; and loitering men’ highlights the opportunities to photographers as documenters of social history. The collection of black and white photographs and some rare developed colour slides taken by the Salford-born photographer showcases several images from in and around the area.
Meanwhile photographer Al Baker (no known relation!) has spent decades documenting life, music and graffiti art of the deck access flats and crescents and associated music sub-cultures.
In 2013 School of Art photography students created a collage of unique images of the then vacant Birley site in a behind-the-scenes look as the builders prepared for the new construction.