My curiosity about boat life has served as a starting point, propelling me to participate in the canal community actively. This involvement has included conducting interviews, undertaking research, filming, crafting and designing sounds, all leading to the creation of the Urban Room intervention for the community.
On my initial stroll along the canal, I was surprised to find a large number of boats moored on both sides of the canal. According to the Boater Census Survey (Canal& River Trust, 2022), there are approximately 35,000 boats on canals and rivers, with 79 percent of boaters having home moorings. This indicates that the waterway was not only a harbor, but also a residence for most people. This realization brought a sense of novelty to me because this is my first time getting to know this kind of lifestyle. However, people had plenty of stereotypes, perceiving this lifestyle as dangerous, nomadic, and unstable. This prompt me to question how the floating river could be a foundation of a home? Why people chose it, even contemplating the most basic questions such as how they manage daily routines, including something as simple as taking a shower on the boat. So we talked about the concept of home. And I used the cloths that collected from residents to set up this space.
