Delivery swans, millionaire neighbours and the wonders of a bath: hardcore houseboat heroes celebrated in photos

<p>Aisha Mirza spent five years documenting boaters – queer, disabled, black and brown – who live on the beautiful waterways of London in the shadow of million-pound flats</p><p>‘Maria was actually due to give birth on that boat,” says Aisha Mirza with a half sigh, half laugh. “We were all excited, but she ended up starting labour early and having the baby in the hospital. Then she brought the baby to the boat and I got to photograph their first few days together. That was really special.”</p><p>Mirza, an artist and writer, is speaking via Zoom, sitting outside on a bench on a sunny autumn day talking me through some of the photographs in their new exhibition and smiling. WWWADING, is a five-year culmination of photography and oral history collected along the canals of London with a focus on boaters of colour. Inspired by the idea of what they call “a marginalised people choosing a marginalised way of life”, the photographs are an ode to a community of queer or disabled boaters in their natural habitat, who don’t often have a lens on their existence.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/oct/07/delivery-swans-millionaire-neighbours-and-the-wonders-of-a-bath-hardcore-houseboaters-celebrated-in-photos">Continue reading...</a>