In nature, we find ancient landscapes – canyons, old-growth forests, and mountains – unchanged for millennia. In contrast, cities evolve rapidly, with sweeping changes visible in just a year. Cities evolve through dozens of cranes building up new structures, replacing the old that have been torn down. It’s inspired great artists such as Frank Auerbach, who has documented London’s ever-changing cityscape over decades, and the same restless energy drives artist Joanna Li.
In her project ‘Crescendo’, Joanna has captured how London’s buildings loom over us in strong lines and vibrant watercolours. Her art reimagines urban spaces like bus shelters, London Underground platforms, and public walls as canvases, where the very buildings that shape our city become vectors for art themselves.
Most of us move through these spaces hurriedly, heads down, unaware of how deeply the urban landscape shapes our daily lives. We seldom pause to notice how sunlight filters through gaps between buildings or how reflections from shiny facades create new perspectives. Green spaces, tucked between concrete structures, offer brief respites, while public art compels us to view familiar surroundings in fresh ways. Joanna’s work asks us to stop, to see our city through a different lens.
We expect to encounter art in galleries, but when we come across it unexpectedly, while waiting for a bus or standing on a train platform, it disrupts our routine. Rather than being assaulted by advertisements designed to capture our attention, we find ourselves engaged, drawn in by Joanna’s quieter, more contemplative imagery. Her work pulls us away from our phones and into the present moment, inviting us to reflect on what surrounds us.
Joanna’s palette is deliberately muted, echoing the grit and imperfections of urban life. Cities are often dirty, and worn down by human activity – rubber worn from tyres, smoke from exhausts, litter scattered by careless commuters. These signs of life, though grimy, affirm our existence within the city. The grime itself tells a story: we are here; we belong to this place.
Some of the work represents a skyline, drawing to mind all the greats who have depicted London’s buildings including Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. But Joanna’s more abstract works, rendered in stark black-and-white, also draw from the aesthetic of the Soviet Constructivists, particularly artists like Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, and Naum Gabo, the latter a profound inspiration for her.
Her photographic series ‘Lines’ also taps into the energy of the urban environment, whether that be candid photographs of somebody zoning out on a bus as they cherish a moment of respite from the urban throng or dozens of passengers in a station concourse either waiting for their platform to be announced or trying to figure out which direction they should be heading – unaware that when viewed from above they form a chaotic ballet that’s perfect fodder for Joanna’s lens.
A fleeting glimpse of sunlight on a tower, a boarded-up building, or the interplay of light and shadow – her work challenges us to stop, to notice, and to appreciate the unnoticed details of our city. Joanna Li’s art encourages us to walk familiar streets with fresh eyes, reminding us that beauty lies in the everyday, waiting to be seen.
More of Joanna Li’s practice may be found on her website and Instagram.
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Art Critic for both FAD and Londonist. See as many exhibitions as possible and write reviews, opinion pieces and a weekly top 5 for FAD.