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Amid rising seas levels and flash flooding, it’s pretty hard these days to see London’s relationship with water as anything other than slightly problematic. But a new exhibition at Museum of London Docklands reminds us that our city has been shaped by its river and by maritime trade. ‘London: Port City’, which opens in October, will trace the history of the capital’s docks from the end of the eighteenth century through the height of the British Empire, to the gradual diminution of river traffic in the twentieth century and on to the present and future with the development of the London Gateway ‘mega port’ in the Thames Estuary. Because, shipping-container fans, we all do actually still live adjacent to a huge port. ‘The port and its impact on London is massive,’ says curator Claire Dobbin. ‘Handling more than 50 million tons of cargo a year, from our morning coffee to the clothes we wear, and materials for buildings we live and work in, the port plays a vital role in our daily lives and national economy. It’s moved downriver – and for many of us out of sight – but the port is still very much part of London.’
The show will have a wealth of objects to illustrate the docks’ evolution, from a pair of hollowed-out sandals used to smuggle opium, seized in the late nineteenth century, to material from the bombing of the area in WWII. The exhibition will also address the wider context of the capital’s maritime economy, specifically its historical dependence on the sugar trade and slavery. A statue of slave owner Robert Milligan was removed from outside the museum in 2020, and the topic continues to cast a shadow over London’s relationship with its commercial and imperial past.
‘London: Port City’ promises to re-engage us Londoners with the idea that our city is fundamentally connected to the past and the rest of the world by water. Try to bear that in mind as all your furniture floats out of your flat and bobs off down the road.
‘London: Port City’, Museum of London Docklands, Oct 22-May 8 2022. Free.
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