Sketches of the Seafarers at the Royal Docks

Tiki Bush originates from the Newar tribe in Nepal, the artists and craftspeople from the Katmandu Valley. Her creative work is influenced by the environment, the agricultural landscape of Scotland and England and has travelled extensively to Asia, Africa, America. Armed with her camera, sketchbook, and watercolours Tiki constantly records what inspires her.

These sketches were inspired through workshops delivered by curator Trisha McCauley’s ‘Hidden Sailors: Places and Spaces’ project for Bridging Histories supported by the Mayor of London.

Tiki was particularly interested in the Hidden Sailors, Spaces and Places project because she lived in Canning Town for many years and was surprised to learn about the sailors and the mixed-race communities who settled there in the early 20th century. Tiki, inspired by the archival images of the seafarers created a series of drawings and sketches depicting their day to day lives aboard the ships and docks to create a collage.