Towpath Tails
Ilustration / Archive / Folklore
Stories travel faster than boats.
Moving every 2 weeks as a ‘continuous cruiser’ creates an unspoken bond between the boaters you meet. They are strangers who will inevitably become your neighbour; and this constant shift of characters presents an endless stream of stories.
It’s an evergrowing community not bound to one area, whom I will be documenting over a year. This project is a 250km journey to try and find the river & canal network’s most unbelievable stories; and extract them into modern-day folklore.
I will be inviting the public to tell me their stories and take part in a large-scale community artefact that will start in Central London and end in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.
Ilustration / Archive / Folklore
Stories travel faster than boats.
Moving every 2 weeks as a ‘continuous cruiser’ creates an unspoken bond between the boaters you meet. They are strangers who will inevitably become your neighbour; and this constant shift of characters presents an endless stream of stories.
It’s an evergrowing community not bound to one area, whom I will be documenting over a year. This project is a 250km journey to try and find the river & canal network’s most unbelievable stories; and extract them into modern-day folklore.
I will be inviting the public to tell me their stories and take part in a large-scale community artefact that will start in Central London and end in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.
(Experminting with mapping observational studies & imagined places)
Instalation Plan:
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Community Artefact: A co-created scroll with a reeling mechanism; gradually made by particpants throughout the year. The 25M scroll will be completed over 25 mooring spots.
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Signage & Decor: To transform my boat exterior into a temporary hub, I will design a
rooftop instalaton/ signage, along with painted boards with question prompts and a quote from the river (chosen every 2 weeks from the previous mooring spot).
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How does a tale become a legend and what makes the everday folklore hero?
I’m interested in using the visual language of mythology, as a way to anonymise people stories and create archetypes that reflect shared narratives of today.
What was once the boundary between Anglo Saxon and Viking territories, as well as the central transport route of Imperial Britain, is now a host of boat dwellers living precariously. The waterways has long been a site of cultural exhange and migration. Drawing on these historical parallels, this project is an exploration into how rivers continue to shape communities and how folklore can emerge from this transient network.
Through mapping, illustration, oral testimonies and video interviews, this project will create an archive of the River & Canal network. It seeks to provide a platform for the continuous cruising community; currently disadvantaged by policies favoring more lucrative home moorings. It aims to generate documentation to investigate the Canal & River Trust’s accountability and more generally, challenge the privatisation of the waterways as a public commodity. This project aims to bring together many voices from the towpath across the UK; informing a series of illustrated maps, and fables, as well as a community scroll made by anybody who wants to leave their mark. My goals is to gather as many as many stories as possible from this marginalised and largely undocumented community.
I’m interested in using the visual language of mythology, as a way to anonymise people stories and create archetypes that reflect shared narratives of today.
What was once the boundary between Anglo Saxon and Viking territories, as well as the central transport route of Imperial Britain, is now a host of boat dwellers living precariously. The waterways has long been a site of cultural exhange and migration. Drawing on these historical parallels, this project is an exploration into how rivers continue to shape communities and how folklore can emerge from this transient network.
Through mapping, illustration, oral testimonies and video interviews, this project will create an archive of the River & Canal network. It seeks to provide a platform for the continuous cruising community; currently disadvantaged by policies favoring more lucrative home moorings. It aims to generate documentation to investigate the Canal & River Trust’s accountability and more generally, challenge the privatisation of the waterways as a public commodity. This project aims to bring together many voices from the towpath across the UK; informing a series of illustrated maps, and fables, as well as a community scroll made by anybody who wants to leave their mark. My goals is to gather as many as many stories as possible from this marginalised and largely undocumented community.
Research for Pilot Map:
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(Images from the River Lea: Stanstead Abbots - Rye House)
Artist Bio:
This project builds on my experience as an illustrator, graphic designer and arts facilitator. I graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020 with a degree in Graphic Communication Design, where my work focused on designing for play. During a residency with Terrestrial Arts, I developed a modular puzzle for constructing treehouses from the letters of “treehouse.” In 2021, I was commissioned by Emergency Exit Arts to create an immersive touring show ‘The Glitch In The Wardrobe’, based on worlds built by children from scrap materials. I 3D modelled these into a navigable augmented reality environment, allowing audiences to explore and discover their messages. I was also lead artist on a youth-led mural project for the Working Party, where each letter was designed by a young person to collectively spell out ‘WAKE UP’.
Over the past 5 years, I have worked as a freelance graphic designer, including with immersive theatre company Coney & Mod Games, alongside facilitating workshops at Hub 67, The Yard and Mildmay Community Centre, where I currently work as a social media and community organiser. This is where I created ‘Made In Mildmay’, a short documentary series featuring local residents and visitors, including our local MP Jeremy Corbyn. In 2023, I co-founded the Junk Junkie Collective, a community arts group making installations for festivals and events such as Lattitude, Secret Garden Party, Electric Picnic & Temporary Autonomous Arts. The collective grew from “Trash Bash Tuesdays,” where residents of the Haringey Warehouse District built sculptures from discarded found materials, evolving into a pilot show and world for immersive events and performances.
My current work increasingly explores living systems, modular design and play as tools for participation. I am interested in collective messages.
This project builds on my experience as an illustrator, graphic designer and arts facilitator. I graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020 with a degree in Graphic Communication Design, where my work focused on designing for play. During a residency with Terrestrial Arts, I developed a modular puzzle for constructing treehouses from the letters of “treehouse.” In 2021, I was commissioned by Emergency Exit Arts to create an immersive touring show ‘The Glitch In The Wardrobe’, based on worlds built by children from scrap materials. I 3D modelled these into a navigable augmented reality environment, allowing audiences to explore and discover their messages. I was also lead artist on a youth-led mural project for the Working Party, where each letter was designed by a young person to collectively spell out ‘WAKE UP’.
Over the past 5 years, I have worked as a freelance graphic designer, including with immersive theatre company Coney & Mod Games, alongside facilitating workshops at Hub 67, The Yard and Mildmay Community Centre, where I currently work as a social media and community organiser. This is where I created ‘Made In Mildmay’, a short documentary series featuring local residents and visitors, including our local MP Jeremy Corbyn. In 2023, I co-founded the Junk Junkie Collective, a community arts group making installations for festivals and events such as Lattitude, Secret Garden Party, Electric Picnic & Temporary Autonomous Arts. The collective grew from “Trash Bash Tuesdays,” where residents of the Haringey Warehouse District built sculptures from discarded found materials, evolving into a pilot show and world for immersive events and performances.
My current work increasingly explores living systems, modular design and play as tools for participation. I am interested in collective messages.
Collective Artifact at Marble Hill (2024)Previous Work:
Made In Mildmay (2024 - 2026)
iPhone Data Visalisation (2019)
Community Composting Hub (2025)
Middlesex Map (2023)
‘Understanding my engine’ Map (2025)
Youth Led ‘Wake Up’ Mural (2021)
UN Ocean Decade (2020)
Great Pacific Earthship (2020)
‘Don’t Go With the Flow’ - Pilot game about flooding & community resilience (2024)
Junk Junkie Collective (2025)
Glitch In The Wardrobe (2021)
Treehouse Puzzle (2020)
World Map of Climate Tipping Points (2020)
Album Cover (2023)
Mildmay Map (2025)
Mad Hatters Jubilee Tea Party (2024)
Junk Junkie Iconography (2023)
Coney 2021-24)
Playful Activism Toolbox (2024)
Register to Vote London (2022)
Illustration (2024)
