Walking through the Northern Quarter you may have noticed a small acorn with a beard, a black spray-painted cat or a panda with an eye patch.
Yes, the street art that cover the walls here vary from popular TV baddies, political prisoners or weird and wonderful designs created my Manchester’s most creative minds.
And there is no one more appreciative than avid photographer Gareth Hacking, who has documented one piece of artwork per day for the last 559 days to capture as much of it as he can before it is painted over.
Gareth, who studied a fine art degree at Staffordshire University, has photographed life in Manchester since moving here.
Gareth said: “I wanted to try and capture as much as possible before it disappeared. 
“Much of what you can see on the blog has already gone, having been torn down, painted over or worn away by the weather.
“After a year of weekday postings, I wanted to see if I could push it further, so decided to ramp it up and give the full 365 a go at the beginning of 2013.”
He first began the project after becoming immersed in artwork on Oxford Road and realised that the Northern Quarter has become a much more popular hub for street artists to gather and make their mark.
“I’m hoping at least one of them will be interested in helping out and keeping it going,” he said.
However the photographer has admitted that he will soon be unable to continue with his project and is appealing to his 500-strong followers to keep his legacy going
“And I’m still planning on adding new items albeit, not at a set schedule and only when I found something worth sharing.
“But I’m the process of developing a bunch of different ideas and content for next year, trying to finally make some decent use of my website.
“As for artistic dream, being able to quit the day job and take photographs full-time would be about it.”
For more information on Gareth’s work, please visit www.northernquarterstreetart.tumblr.com
Images courtesy of Gareth Hacking, with thanks.
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