The ugly truth of our polluted waterways - photographer captures shameful images of birds nesting on mounds of litter along canal

Published: 21 May 2010
by JOSH LOEB

AS scenes go, it’s hardly Monet’s lily pond or Turner’s Venice, but Islington’s Regent’s Canal – and the garbage that bobs in it – have inspired an artistic project by documentary photographer Boaz Teitelbaum.

Over the past few months, the professional snapper – who cycles along the canal towpath from his home in Hackney to work at an art stall in Camden Town – has been capturing images of rubbish along the course of the waterway, which runs under Upper Street and behind City Road and King’s Cross. 

He is now planning to display the pictures in a gallery in the hope that they will raise alarm about the harm that dumping rubbish does to the environment. 

“I noticed the rubbish when they lowered the water level in part of the canal,” he says. “Many people think treasure is buried in the canal. At night birds sleep on the towpath. It has a kind of mystical feeling.  

“For me this is a documentary photography project. I think people throw rubbish into the water because it’s a place where you can’t see it – when you put the garbage in the canal, it’s not in front of you so its easier to forget about it, but in the long term it’s not good for the environment. 

“I think the authorities need to do something to clean it up.”

Mr Teitelbaum, who grew up in Israel and has previously completed a project photographing homeless people in Old Street station, has spotted a variety of objects in the canal, including irons, shopping trolleys, bicycles, roadworks signs and a British Waterways bin lodged in the canal bed.

One of the photographs in his series shows a swan’s nest surrounded by hundreds of plastic bottles. 

Another shows a duck sitting next to a mass of drinks cans and wooden limbs of furniture intertwined with algae.

A spokesman for British Waterways, who look after the canal, said that people dumping rubbish in the water was “a constant problem” and that the organisation supported Mr Teitelbaum’s attempts to raise awareness of it.

The spokesman said: “We spend thousands of pounds every year picking up rubbish that other people throw in the canal. 

“In some ways it’s no different from the problems faced in parks and other sorts of areas. It’s unacceptable and is extremely demoralising. 

“We would support efforts to highlight how outrageous it is that people are using the canal in this way.”

n To see more of Boaz Teitelbaum’s work,   visit his website: www.boazteitelbaum.com