Niki Gorick: Behind the lens

For more than 25 years, Niki Gorick has been capturing London’s hidden communities. Her passion for photography began during a gap year in Montreal, and led to a career spanning photojournalism, television camerawork and screenwriting.  

But it’s her love of London’s lives and landscapes that continues to capture her imagination. “London is a city that’s always changing, yet staying the same,” she says, “There’s always something going on.” Her candid images of the capital have seen her produce work about the city’s architecture, parks and markets, as well as an outdoor exhibition and book about daily worship in the City of London.  

One of her more recent projects celebrates everyday life in London’s docklands, from families on houseboats to vessels undergoing maintenance. A selection of these images are now on show in Niki Gorick: Dock Life, a photographic display in Cutty Sark’s Dry Dock. The display is accompanied by images and stories from Royal Museums Greenwich’s archive to highlight the connections – and contrasts – between dock life past and present.  

Here, she tells us about the inspiration behind the project, the people she met – and how it feels to have a display at Cutty Sark.

Can you tell us about some of the people you photographed?  

I’ve always loved finding hidden communities in London and showing the capital’s lesser-known side. Some of the people I photographed include Rebecca and Simon, who are raising their two young children while renovating their houseboat. They’ve created bespoke furniture and insulation panels using sophisticated machinery.   

I also met Eva, who is well into her 80s – very spry, active – and has lived on boats all her life. She looks after dogs on behalf of The Cinnamon Trust, a charity that provides support to pet owners who need assistance caring for their animals. 

London’s docks were originally built as places of work. Were you able to learn more about the maritime activities in the area?  

South Dock Marina in Rotherhithe is the only location with a working boatyard in central London, and it’s here that I encountered Phil, Bill and Brenden. Phil and Bill are wonderful characters – they met building the Thames Barrier.  When I photographed them, they were working with 20-year-old entrepreneur, Brenden, to renovate an ancient Canadian tug.  

I would talk to them about their way of doing things, then return home, scribble down my thoughts and all the facts I had learned. The boatyard will be significantly redeveloped, so the people who work there are pleased that I captured it how it was.  

Someone else I came across was Octavia, who was mending the hull of Maserati, a lovely 1960s superyacht. She was part of a team who called themselves the ‘Rot Detectives’. Over the course of a year, they dug out every last bit of the yacht’s rotten wood, then repaired and resealed the vessel. Once this was complete, they renovated the yacht’s interior.  

What have been some of your highlights from the project?  

The project took two years to bring together, and there have been all sorts of highlights.  I’ve loved learning about the lives and activities of the people here.   

The dockside community were thrilled to be photographed – no-one had ever asked to take photographs of them before – and I worked hard to gain their trust and to nurture relationships.  

I knew from the outset that I wanted this project to become a book. In 2023, Dock Life Renewed: How London’s Docks are Thriving Again was published by Unicorn Publishing, and features more than 100 images with captions. The book’s publication coincided with the 40th anniversary of the London Docklands Development Corporation, an initiative that redeveloped the area.   

I’m thrilled that my images are on display underneath the hull of Cutty Sark. The photographs are placed next to historic images from Royal Museums Greenwich’s archive, to really show the transformation that’s occurred. It’s the perfect setting for them. 

Banner image: Canine care by Niki Gorick © Niki Gorick Photography Ltd., 2025