Mixed metaphors (2010)

Like cars, inland waterway vessels are registered through a national database managed
by The Canal and River Trust, yet the naming of these boats is a private matter
for individual owners. The register contains the names of over thirty thousand vessels, with
Kingfisher being the most popular with 77 instances. Naming protocols are rich and varied with
many owners declaring romantic metaphors or using humorous puns. Boat names however are
often altered after a change of ownership or repainted after relationship breakdown between
co-owners (see Penny & Jenny below). This project presents an observed collection of boat names
mixed with the author’s own imagined, opportunistic and digitally
altered names using anagram and omission, framed with a juvenile humour.

35 images - a selection shown here