Flotilla, 2023

Single channel video, aspect ratio 16:9, 6 min 54 sec, 4K, stereo sound

The video-work Flotilla was filmed on the waters of the Royal Docks London with a group of local women. Based on the docks’ crucial role in the emergence of both the labour movement and of women’s liberation, the project forms a portrait of a diverse community of people and of the geography of these London working waters.

The project takes inspiration from a series of historic women’s protests around the Royal Dock, from the Match Girls to the Suffragettes, the Sugar Girls and the Dagenham Ford strikes - and aims to highlight the inequalities with regards to women working on boats. Historically, women were not allowed to work on moving vessels, and were barred from remaining on ships once they had set sail. There was a widespread superstition that a woman’s presence on merchant and military vessels was bad luck and could spell disaster at sea. As a result, many seafaring professions were prohibited to women until as recently as the late 20th Century.

In this work, a cross-generational group of local women is filmed on a ‘flotilla’ of differently sized boats on the night-time waters of the Royal Docks. Standing at the bow, the protagonists become radiantly illuminated by pools of light while the flotilla itself is seen like a procession, gliding through the docks towards the City of London, lit up in the distance. Situated in one of the most rapidly changing areas of London the work speaks to the potential for protest, care and solidarity to think towards more equitable modes of living and working.