Born 1965 in England, Adrian is an art-photography graduate exploring themes of entropy, human absence, materialism, emotional connection and life-cycle.

The submission of four images from Cars of England was Sunday Times picture editor Russ O’Connell's 'Selector's choice' in his capacity as a judge for the Royal Photographic Society International Print Exhibition 159 (2016).

Russ O’Connell: There were a series of images that stood out to me from all of the singular entries in the competition, and that was Adrian Manning’s series on abandoned cars. Proud possessions, once peoples pride & joy, have been left to decay in their final resting places, driveways become graves or monuments, that hold past motoring icons, a million miles away from the shiny ads you would have seen of them in the pages of magazines or billboards of yesteryear, nature reclaiming their bodies in coloured patterns of rust and mould.

More responses to this project…

Martin Parr: I like it!

David Campany: I like your photos. It's fascinating to see how nature gets the better of everything, although the demise of any Lotus Esprit is very sad!

Alexei Sayle: The French philosopher Roland Barthes said something to the effect of "cars are our equivalent of the medieval cathedral". Similarly these abandoned vehicles contain some of the poignancy and sense of loss that we find in ancient monuments. Decaying symbols of vanished and impossible to understand civilisations.

Exhibited as part of RPS IPE 159 touring group show in 2016/17 at: 

> Photoblock, The Old Truman Brewery, London.
> Royal Albert Hall, London.
> University of Brighton.
> The Museum of Somerset, Taunton.
> The Civic, Barnsley.
> Titanic Museum, International Photography Festival, Belfast.
> Retina, Scottish International Photography Festival, Edinburgh.


Contact welcome.

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