Manchesters Cookie Love paints in variety of mediums from body paint to spray paint. Her artist name ‘Folie‘ derives from the French for ‘madness’ and is her means of celebrating the relationship between mental health and art. Her mural on the side of the Volta Lab studios is a what she describes as a nudge to women in music and their under-representation. Her ‘Girls to the Front‘ message is about just that.
The mural also depicts a reference to Rochdales former Ashfield Valley Flats taking the form of a mixing desk. Famed for their links to the punk and alternative music scene they had nonetheless soon gained a notorious reputation which ultimately led to their demolition by 1992. Three of the tower blocks still survive in the town as Stoneyvale Court with the rest of the area becoming Sandbrook Park.
Another element of the mural celebrates Volta Lab Studios itself. An unassuming building it has a rich history as part of the Manchester music scene. Playing host to various iterations of recording studios of the years, it has recorded the likes of Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Elbow and the Stone Roses. The pulsing radio signal seen in her work is a reference to that. Taken from Joy Divisions 1979 album cover ‘Unknown Pleasures‘ it was recorded at the studio. A further random fact associated with that particular image is that it was taken from the first recorded pulsating signal recorded from deep space. It was discovered by Jocelyn Bell in 1967 and initially called LGM-1 (Little Green Men) as it was believed by others to be alien. It wasn’t of course but it’s an interesting story
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