Event on Saturday, September 20, 2025, will see visitors welcomed to the ecological regeneration project for art, workshops, exhibitions, performances and live music
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Cody Dock is getting ready to host Lighting Up The Lea later this month.
The event, which will take place on Saturday, September 20, 2025, features workshops, exhibitions, performances, a plant sale, food stalls, live music and more as the ecological regeneration project throws wide its gates to the community.
The event is officially part of three festivals – Open House, Totally Thames and Newham Heritage Month – and will also see the unveiling of Cody Dock’s second Cabinet Of Curiosity.
Commissioned as part of the project’s National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, artist Zhiyan Cai has been asked to explore the pre-industrial history of the River Lea for the installation.
“I started off studying architecture and then worked in that industry for a year, but while it was an interesting thing to study, the work was boring,” she said.
“However, I did learn about structures, rendering animations.
“I started off making digital art for myself, but people liked what I created and so I thought it could be a pathway for me.
“I’m from China originally and I first came to the UK to study in Glasgow. I decided to move to London because of the opportunities to practise art here.”
Zhiyan, who has just completed a four-month residency at Arebyte Gallery in London City Island, responded to Cody Dock’s open call to create the next in its series of cabinets and won the commission.
a portal to the past at Cody Dock
“I really wanted to make something 3D but, of course, everything we have from that time is either documents or 2D paintings,” she said.
“What I’m doing is using structures within the cabinet that will look three dimensional when viewed from the front.
“It will be like a portal people can feel like they’d pass through – like a magical door from Dr Who. It’s a great idea to bring a history from the abstract into real life.
“I also work with projector mapping so there will be animation involved.
“The piece I’ve created will be in the middle of the cabinet and I’ve worked with children in workshops at Cody Dock to help them build lightboxes inspired by the area’s history.
“The idea is to combine all these different angles on the past – from me, from local kids – and, that way, to build connection.”
Angles is the right word. Zhiyan’s light boxes use optical illusion to create a sense of depth and movement as the viewer literally changes the perspective in her creations by moving their heads.
She hopes her work will encourage visitors to take a fresh look at their surroundings with the content she has created – all inspired by the research she has done alongside Cody Dock’s Julia Briscoe into the area’s past.
“We visited archives and found out about the design of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, which was located near here and founded in 1135,” said Zhiyan.
“I’ve used that information to create a kind of gallery as a framing device – it’s like a memory hall, so people can see this area at different periods in time.
“It’s about the wetlands with the plants waving in the wind, the Vikings and the abbey itself. I live in Canning Town myself and it’s really interesting to find out about the history of the land along the river.
“I was surprised to learn about the life of the abbey and the farming that happened around it as well as the fact local people simply took the bricks after it was demolished after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.
“They used the stone to make new buildings.
“Things were always changing here – some of those materials may still exist in buildings in this areas and I hope my work helps to illustrate these things.”
Lighting Up The Lea
In addition to seeing the new Cabinet Of Curiosity, visitors to Lighting Up The Lea will also be able to enjoy Dock Tours, try beeswax candle rolling, purchase Cody Dock honey, and see the site’s singular rolling bridge turn over.
Also on the agenda will be the chance to meet artist-in-residence Remiiya Badru who is working at Cody Dock over the course of a year to explore the area’s relationship with the textile calico and pigment Prussian Blue.
She will be inviting visitors to share their stories, inspired by items in the collection at V&A East Storehouse with the aim of producing an artwork related to her research.
Those interested in participating should sign up in advance for one of three Common Threads workshops to be held on the day.
The link can be found via linktr.ee/codydock.
key details: Lighting Up The Lea
Lighting Up The Lea is set to take place at Cody Dock on Saturday, September 20, 2025, from 11am-6pm.
Entry is free and all are welcome.
Find out more details here
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