As part of a “awareness project” for Londoners, new art exhibition River People saw photographer Matthew Joseph spend three months travelling along the River Thames’ banks from Kew to past Tower Bridge with his camera, picking out a dozen people connected by the river.
“You could take nice shots of the Thames at sunset and that would be cool, but people relate to people and I wanted to humanise the river and show people working, playing and making a business and living on it,” Joseph told the Evening Standard.
Among this collection of people – a rower, volunteers, a Tower Bridge driver, firefighter etc – is our very own Chris Livett. The image of Chris – who is waterman to the Queen – used in the exhibition can be seen above.
“Most of the other subjects I met have worked with, know of, or have met this stalwart of the river, so it was only right that he has his place in the series,” Joseph explained.
The show is a collaboration between the Institution of Civil Engineers and Tideway, who are currently working on London’s huge “supersewer” – a project that the Livett’s group is already extensively involved in.
River People is free and runs until June 3 at the library of One Great George Street in Westminster from 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Visit Matthew Joseph’s website here.