Manchester’s three rivers, the Irwell, the Irk and the Medlock, are featured on the city’s heraldic crest, forming part of the symbol for Manchester, but today they are largely hidden from view and many Manchester residents rarely interact them. What happened to Manchester’s three rivers?

Students from Levenshulme High School have been invited to learn about the rise and fall of Manchester’s three rivers and discover how important they are to our history, our ecology and to all people who live in the city and its surrounding area. A poet and a visual artist will lead the session and enable the group to create their own mythologies, inventing renewed identities for these rivers and helping to give them pride of place in Manchester once again.

Second Nature, The Portico’s upcoming exhibition, brings together historic literature and artefacts, up-to-date research and new works by contemporary artists and young people to ask what we mean by ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ today and how these terms have been used throughout the modern age.