Salvatore Rubbino: Busy Roads to Wide Water and Big Skies

An animation and soundscape of illustrations of Canning Town

This was a beautiful collaboration with illustrator Salvatore Rubbino as part of the Royal Docks Our People and Storiesseries and in partnership with Newham Heritage Month 2023.

In March 2023, Salvatore was joined by fellow Newham resident Raffaella Ravaioli on a walk through Canning Town to explore how the present has been shaped by the past, and experience the noisy energy of building projects all around as Canning Town races towards a new future. The route follows busy roads of industry and shops, then quieter residential streets and finally to the Royal Victoria Docks with its wide water reflecting a big sky. Salvatore drew the pictures for the project and the words are from the conversation and opinions he shared with Raffaella. From discussions with Salvatore and curator Rosie Murdoch, I retraced his route to create a soundscape and animated the illustrations into a short film.

The film was premiered at an event in June 2023 at Social Conventions, alongside three other digital pieces; artist Djofray Makumbo explores the Congolese experience of two different generations in his documentary Memories, in Marilyn Fontaine's film Coming Together, she explores the work and social culture of African Carribean workers at the Tate and Lyle sugar refinery from 1977 to 2000, and The Chains of Change, is a film made by young people from Beckton and Canning Town exploring gentrification through research at Newham Archives.