In a new exhibition opening this month, artist Olga Regina is reclaiming the glass and steel canyons of Canary Wharf for the imagination.
Memory of a New City is showing at the Brady Arts and Community Centre, Tower Hamlets, uncovering the layered identity of the area and reimagining it through a childlike lens.
“In my work, I try to bring a sense of lightness and positivity - something that gently shifts perception and, ideally, makes people smile,” Olga says.
Regina uses a blend of photography and digitally manipulated paintings to create curiously juxtaposing snapshots of East London life.
The Docklands might be a global finance hub now, but Regina is more interested in the fleeting moments of joy hidden in the urban jungle.
“I’ve introduced and integrated a series of imagined characters - almost as if they’ve always belonged to the Docklands,” she explains.
“A mermaid, perhaps an ambassador of prosperity and financial fortune; a curious crab; small ghost-like figures inhabiting trees; even the familiar presence of rubber ducks in the Thames. These are characters we recognise from childhood - so why shouldn’t they continue to exist alongside us now?”
Russian-born, the now London-based contemporary artist shares her feeling of familiarity with the Dockland skyline. “[Canary Wharf] reminds me a little of Moscow… Perhaps that’s why I feel unexpectedly at home there.”
There’s a shared DNA in the vertical ambition of both cities, though Regina’s work suggests that even the most imposing tower can feel like home if you look at it through the right lens.
Speaking of the moment that Memory of a New City began, Olga shares: “The first work in the series, Lunch Time, really marked the beginning of the whole project.
“I was out walking during the day when I turned around and suddenly saw the towers partially covered in mist. At that exact moment, a seagull cried out - and the image came together almost instantly.”
Her other works keep that playful pulse going. Walk depicts garishly dressed dog-owners strolling by the water, their colourful, child-like animations at odds with the grey background.
In Nothing Unusual Tonight, a woman on her phone walks a dog, cutting a bright, digital silhouette through the grainy street backdrop.
“I’m not trying to document a place exactly as it is. What matters more to me is bringing different layers together within a single image. London is a city built on layers, but they’re not always immediately visible, so I try to create a sense of them rather than explain them directly.
“So much of what we’re looking for is already around us, happening in the present, woven into our everyday routines. London is full of beauty — we just move too quickly to notice it.”
Memory of a New City
4 - 25 April 2026
Brady Arts & Community Centre
192-196 Hanbury Street
E1 5HU