Memories of Dark Water

My first memory is of a talking minor bird. Next is of the smell, the smell of a pub from behind the bar. My grandparents were landlords of Top Canteen, the pub on the quayside of Tilbury Docks and I would visit in the early 80s as a child. My strongest memory though was walking along the quay with my Dad and having that mix of fear and excitement at looking at the drop from the edge down to the deep, dark Thames water. Time has past, people have past, the pub was demolished in the late 80s but the memory and the associated emotions live in me.

I recently returned to Tilbury and spent a few hours exploring along the beach and to the Gravesend ferry pontoon. Also open to the public is the access tunnel that with an art installation expresses the experiences and memories of the people who disembarked the ship Windrush on 22 June 1948.

I’m hoping to find a way to extend this in to a personal project exploring deeper in to memory and the port.

Tilbury, Essex/London

Nikon F3

Colour and B&W 35mm Film