Off Land presents Floating Homes, Moving Lives, an ongoing photographic project by Xianzhuyue Li, developed along Britain’s inland waterways from London to the North of England. Through portraits, landscapes and quiet observations of everyday life, the project follows people who have chosen to make the canal their home, reflecting on ideas of home, mobility and belonging.
Among those portrayed are people only just beginning life afloat, alongside others who have lived on the waterways for more than two decades. Some arrived through economic necessity amid Britain’s housing crisis; others embraced the canals in search of a different rhythm of living. While every story is unique, they are connected by a shared experience of making a home that is continually in motion.
Life on the canals is neither a romantic escape nor a life detached from society. For many continuous cruisers, movement is shaped as much by the regulations of Britain’s inland waterways as by personal choice. Here, mobility is not simply about freedom, but an everyday negotiation between legislation, economic realities and individual agency. Rather than romanticising life afloat, Off Land considers it as a way of living continually shaped through this delicate balance.
Running quietly through the exhibition is another history: that of the women who have long shaped Britain’s waterways. From the Idle Women, who kept the canals operating during the Second World War, to the women who continue to preserve and share these histories today, the waterways carry not only boats, but also memories of labour, resilience and community.
As Michel Foucault famously described, the boat is ‘the heterotopia par excellence’ - a space that exists both within and beyond the social order. Seen through this lens, the boats in this exhibition become more than dwellings; they are places where ideas of home and belonging are continually reimagined through movement, care and everyday life.
Rather than offering a portrait of an alternative lifestyle, Off Land invites us to reflect on a broader human experience. Ultimately, it is not simply about life on Britain’s waterways; it is about the enduring search for home, belonging, and the many ways these are continually reimagined beyond the boundaries of land.
When home is no longer attached to land, where does belonging begin?
Curators: Niaz Maleknia, Yuke Xiao
Open 11.00 - 18.00
Wednesday 22 - Saturday 25 July 2026
FREE
Private view