For TIDEWAY, Matthew Joseph returned to his photographic roots in portraiture. The result is a comprehensive photo essay documenting the people behind one of London’s largest infrastructure projects of recent years. "Standing By The Thames" was commissioned by TIDEWAY as both a photo essay and an exhibition.
Over a period of 15 months, Matthew photographed individuals from the 25,000-strong workforce that spent a decade building London’s new sewer system and the associated structures along the River Thames.
The resulting series links their faces and stories with the new public spaces along the river—thereby honoring not only an extraordinary engineering feat but, above all, the people who made it possible.
The British infrastructure company Tideway was established specifically to finance, build, and operate the new "Super Sewer" (the Thames Tideway Tunnel) beneath London. The project aims to modernize London’s sewer system, which dates back over 150 years.
London’s "Super Sewer" is a 25-kilometer-long mega-tunnel with a diameter of 7.20 meters—wide enough to fit three double-decker buses side by side. It runs at depths of up to 70 meters directly beneath the bed of the Thames. This new 25-kilometer tunnel captures millions of tons of untreated sewage that would otherwise flow directly into the Thames during heavy rainfall.
The name "Tideway" is derived directly from the section of the Thames influenced by the tides (ebb and flow)—the so-called Thames Tideway, which is being protected by this multi-billion-pound project.
Matthew Joseph is represented by the Hamburg-based agency UPFRONT Photo & Film.
GoSee : tideway.london
