Life on the London Canals

All over the UK exist a network of canals that were originally created for shipping routes and transportation. Since 1950, they have been nationalized and are used for recreation. One leg of these canals goes straight through central London, where many people live on narrowboats and enjoy a different lifestyle than those living on land.

I spent most of my days during the winter of 20/21 exploring along these routes and meeting people from the community. What I found was a well-connected community of consistently the nicest people I’d come across in the city. It reminded me of Burning Man, in that there was nothing different about them than anyone else, it spanned many ranges, young to old, single to families, rich to a stop above homeless, etc. These images tell their story.