Port: Harbour Light

The harbour is both edge and entrance a place of trade, departure, and return. Along the River Tyne, light has always flickered across water where shipbuilders, fishers, miners, and mariners worked side by side. In North Shields, the harbour grew into England’s largest prawn landing port, its history bound to the fishing community and the restless North Sea.

Like all fishing harbours, it has been a hive of life nets mended, catches landed, families gathering, traders calling. Visitors from foreign shores added to its character, bringing languages, customs, and perspectives that fused with local rhythms. Each tide carried more than boats and prawns: it carried stories and exchanges that lit the harbour with possibility.

Across the world, the River Volta in Ghana holds a similar weight a source of livelihood and community. Like the Tyne, it has been shaped by those who fished it, crossed it, and built futures along its banks. Together, the Tyne and the Volta remind us that rivers are not borders, but vessels: carrying work, light, and culture from one shore to another.

Harbour Light is a meditation on those thresholds the glow of lanterns on wet stone, the salt and smoke of industry, the warmth of a fire carried home. It honours both the North East and West Africa, entwined through centuries of labour, trade, and arrival.