
On April 5 1994, the world woke up to the news that Kurt Cobain, the iconic frontman of American rock band, Nirvana, had tragically taken his own life. 30 years on, Manchester-based music and mental health social enterprise, Headstock, is marking the poignant anniversary of his death with the creation of a mural of Kurt Cobain in the city, which is now complete.
Headstock has been working with celebrated street artist, Akse, to create a stunning mural of the Nirvana singer on the side of The Bread Shed, a music venue and event space just off Oxford Road in Manchester.
The mural is situated a short walk from where Kurt Cobain, with Nirvana, played their only two gigs in the city – at the Manchester Polytechnic Students Union in 1989, and later at Manchester Academy in 1991.
The purpose of the mural is to raise awareness of mental health text message support service, Shout 85258, and the charity’s logo and text support number will feature prominently on the artwork.
The mural has been created to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death – which falls on April 5, 2024 and with Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK. The money raised will contribute towards the artist’s time and materials and will also help cover hard costs such as the reference image licensing fee.
Akse P19 is a street artist based in Manchester and he has been painting murals since 1992. He focuses on photo-realistic portraits, and over the last 15 years his subjects have ranged from footballer, Marcus Rashford to musician, David Bowie. Over the past five years, Akse has collaborated with Headstock on a number of projects – creating murals of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis and The Prodigy’s Keith Flint – again, to raise awareness of Shout’s life-saving service.
As a street artist, he aspires to bring inspiration to the local community through the subjects he paints, and as such, he has become one of the most well-known street artists in Manchester, with his style being instantly recognisable. Akse is therefore the perfect choice to have created this touching Kurt Cobain mural.
The mural has been funded via a Crowdfunder and completed today (May 17). You can find it on the side of The Bread Shed just off Oxford Road in Manchester.