By Megan Levick

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A new exhibition celebrating female cyclists and tackling issues around women’s safety in urban spaces has launched at Manchester Central Library this month in celebration of International Women’s Day 2025.

The aAh! Magazine X Lights Up Exhibition will run from 03 March to 29 March 2025 and showcases a range of multimedia creative projects and artwork responding to issues in women’s cycling, highlighting the achievements of female cyclists and advocating for important issues that women face in urban spaces after dark.

Featuring contributions from aAh! – Manchester Met’s arts and culture student magazine team of designers, photographers, illustrators and journalists, the exhibition includes interviews with Greater Manchester cyclists, as well as artwork and photography that capture the region’s vibrant cycling community.

The display is a powerful exploration of independence, visibility and empowerment, reflecting the spirit of the 2024 Lights Up ride and Manchester’s recognition as the 2024 European Capital of Cycling.

The Lights Up ride, held last November, saw more than 180 women take to the streets on illuminated bikes, clad in bright outfits and fairy lights. The event aimed to challenge the cultural underrepresentation of female cyclists and push for safer cycling conditions across the city.

Over 180 women gathered on their bikes at All Saints Park, clad in vibrant outfits and fairy lights as they prepared to ride through the streets of Manchester as an illuminated, empowered collective.

Belinda Everett, Manchester’s first bicycle mayor and founder of Bee Pedal Ready, led the Lights Up initiative as part of a wider campaign to instigate a cultural shift to address the underrepresentation of female cyclists on the streets of Greater Manchester and the challenges they face.

In collaboration with partners including Manchester Metropolitan University, Bee Pedal Ready, Station South, We Are Cycling UK, MCRActive, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), and Starling Bikes, Lights Up encourages safer and more inclusive cycling environments across the city and has been instrumental in raising awareness of the challenges women face while cycling after dark.

Belinda said: It’s truly inspiring to see the incredible work produced for Lights Up come together in this collection. The exhibition is a lasting tribute to such an uplifting and thought-provoking campaign. Through creativity and colour, the students have brought vital issues to life, highlighting the importance of safety, cycling at night, and making our roads accessible for all.”

She added: “Hosting the exhibition at Central Library ensures that this powerful collection reaches a wider audience, sparking conversations and raising awareness on a broader scale. Manchester: European Capital of Cycling should continue collaborating with community cycling groups, creating a more active and inclusive society.

Natalie Carragher, senior lecturer in Multimedia Journalism and exhibition lead, said: “This exhibition showcases the creativity and talent of our students, using storytelling and visual art to explore women’s experiences in cycling. Hosting this work at Manchester Central Library – an iconic space for learning and community – reinforces the power of creativity and community in advocacy. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we aim to spark conversations about representation, safety, and reclaiming public spaces, highlighting how cycling can be a vehicle for empowerment and connection and should be accessible to all.”

Professor Jess Edwards, Head of the Department of English, praised the project’s collaborative spirit: “When an opportunity came up for the University to work with Manchester City Council on our city’s year as European Capital of Cycling I knew the best way to make the most of this opportunity for our students was to put them in touch with Natalie [Carragher]. The outcome has been spectacular.

“One of the greatest opportunities our students have at Manchester Met is to collaborate across disciplines to produce something more powerful than any specialist could produce alone, and aAh! Magazine really makes this magic happen.”

Among the featured artists is Manchester Met Illustration and Animation student Sarah Beck: “I loved being a part of the Lights Up exhibition last year, seeing the Manchester community come together to celebrate women and cycling (with the added flair of fairy lights and bright colours) was really beautiful!

Sarah contributed two illustrations to the exhibition, depicting award-winning cyclists Dame Sarah Storey and Kadeena Cox OBE. Describing her inspiration behind the pieces, she said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to have been asked to make a new piece for this International Women’s Day exhibition at the Central Library and to be able to celebrate female power once again. I feel incredibly proud to be Mancunian.

“I spent my teenage years battling crippling chronic illness, and while you can’t see it visually within my work, the two women I chose to depict in my portraits share similar struggles. I would love to see more representation of women with chronic illness achieving success – it would’ve given younger me much more hope and inspiration to keep fighting on.”

She added: “Disabilities aren’t always visible, riding a bike might seem like a mundane task to most, but when that privilege has been stripped away, you learn to appreciate every detail of it. With this in mind, I added glowy lights and bright colours to my pieces, romanticising the mundane task and showcasing the simple act of riding a bike as to how I see it, an empowering act of defiance against my diagnosis.”

Dylan John Meek, Illustration and Animation graduate and fellow contributing artist, shared his enthusiasm for the project: “I feel honoured to have my work featured in such a central and public space and it is great to see my work amongst other fantastic photography, writing and illustration.

“The themes of women’s emancipation and women empowerment have been so inspiring when creating the new illustrations, particularly, getting to illustrate a suffragette was really fun, as I have been interested in creating illustrations that capture moments in history for a while.”

Dylan’s piece ‘Disco on Wheels‘ captured the essence of the Lights Up ride as it made its way down Oxford Road. He said: “My work is usually inspired by community and joyful moments, so the Lights Up event was the perfect springboard to create illustrations for me. The event was full of so much fun, light and power.”

Graphic Design graduate and aAh!’s former Graphic Design Assistant Bradley Sansom, spoke about the evolution of the partnership between the student publication and Bee Pedal Ready: “It’s been a fantastic experience being part of this exhibition. It was borne out of The Freshers issue 24/25, the last one I played a part in as a designer – the issue introduced us to Belinda [Everett], and since then aAh!’s had an incredible partnership with Bee Pedal Ready.”

He added: “We had the fantastic opportunity to share our student’s work with riders at the end of the Lights Up ride back in November at Victoria Baths – this came at a crucial time, as it’s around that time each year when the numbers of people, especially women, begins to drop off.

“At the first exhibition I created a project of my own exploring the data behind people riding bikes in the city, as well as helping to curate and design the exhibition. Following the success of the first event, and the subsequent exhibition at Station South, we’ve now had the amazing chance to bring our creative students’ work to a new audience at Central Library.”

Speaking about his continued involvement with the magazine, Bradley added: “I’ve graduated now, but the thing that keeps bringing me back is the beautiful community that aAh! Magazine brings together; dozens of students from across disciplines that together are shining a light on stories that need to be told.”

Illustration and Animation student Coco Day produced a special illustration as part of the exhibition to mark International Women’s Day. The piece features a cyclist riding through the city’s vibrant streets, highlighting the joy and benefits cycling can bring.

First-year Multimedia Journalism student, Harry Platt, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity: “It is an absolute pleasure, its amazing to think in the short time here at Manchester Met I’ve been able to be given such an experience and honour. It’s an amazing privilege. I just hope the people enjoy what we’ve made and see a bit of their city and its amazing individuals within that.”

He added: “I think the work we did is a good collaboration between all of us here at aAh!, it was the experience to work with such talented individuals that are all in on this idea to create work that reflects both the culture and the effort to make art for the sake of making art.”

Photography student Chloe Tomkinson, who helped document the Lights Up event, reflected on her experience: “I really enjoyed being part of the Lights Up project and having my work displayed in the Manchester Central Library. It was amazing to see my photography in such an important space.

“Photographing the event was a great experience, and it was exciting to work within the team as well as be part of a project that highlights important themes. I hope my work helps capture the energy and community spirit of Lights Up, and I’d definitely encourage other students to get involved in creative projects like this.”

Illustrator Dylan added: “I would advise students to just get stuck in if they would like to contribute to aAh! Magazine, the team is incredibly open to new ideas so there is a real opportunity to make a mark with the publication. I personally feel my portfolio has been expanded so much by my work with aAh! And I love having real briefs to work on and inspire me.”

Summing up the collaboration, Belinda said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with MMU, the students, and aAh! Magazine – a collaboration where art, society, cycling, and colour merge to create something truly inspiring. I am very much looking forward to Lights Up on November 8, 2025, and to continuing this journey with you all.”

The aAh! Magazine X Lights Up exhibition is open to the public until March 29 at Manchester Central Library.