New sound artwork at Waterloo Underground station by Ain Bailey with Elaine Mitchener pays tribute to London’s cultural history

Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Art on the Underground programme has today launched (29 June) a new sound artwork at Waterloo Underground station by artist Ain Bailey with vocalist Elaine Mitchener. The sound artwork is the third to be commissioned for the station and pays tribute to the importance of London’s cultural spaces.

Art on the Underground has worked with the Mayor of London's Culture and Community Spaces at Risk (CCSaR) programme since 2024 on annual audio commissions for the moving walkway between the Jubilee and Northern lines at Waterloo Underground station. The commissions are inspired by the work the programme has done to support more than 1,500 grassroots cultural and community venues and spaces across the capital.

London-based composer, artist and DJ Ain Bailey and experimental vocalist and movement artist Elaine Mitchener have worked with the CCSaR programme to create Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner, an original six-and-a-half-minute audio work. The piece will play on loop on the moving walkway until Friday 10 July, and is Bailey's first UK public artwork. It undertakes an autobiographical mapping of London to reflect on the value of London’s cultural spaces and their place in shaping a personal identity.

The piece features a libretto paying homage to more than 70 London premises such as community spaces, record shops, LGBTQIA+ bars and landmarks of London that have been important to Bailey over five decades of her life and which are no longer open. These include Bali Hai, the legendary night club of her teens, Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association, which was established by her family in 1971, Soho’s Groove Records and lesbian institution Candy Bar.

The libretto has been interpreted and performed by Mitchener as a multi-layered, experimental voice composition, with Mitchener sounding the names of each of the venues. The libretto is interspersed with lyrics from Hubert Gregg's Blitz-era love song ‘Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner’, which Mitchener has reinterpreted. Gregg’s lyrics are also emblazoned across 16 billboards along the moving walkway, to anchor the audio piece in an ideal of London as a feeling, or experience that is shared.

Artist Ain Bailey, said: “Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner is about disappearing social and cultural spaces from my own life - across several decades. It invites reflection on how these places carry collective meaning. By translating these ghostly traces into a visual and sonic form within Waterloo Underground station, I hope that it will create a holding space for public connection and remembrance, where audiences can sense what has been lost and re/consider how shared environments shape community and identity.”

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “Ain Bailey’s Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner is a wonderful tribute to the significant impact that London’s cultural venues have on our lives. Her groundbreaking audio for Art on the Underground demonstrates how they bring communities together, shape our experiences and bring joy and meaning to us all. That’s why we continue to do everything we can do support venues across our capital, as we build a better London for everyone.”

Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, said: “London has long connected people through its community spaces, and we’re delighted to work with Ain Bailey and Elaine Mitchener to honour these venues in the third sound commission for Waterloo Underground station. The featured venues in Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner speak not only to how they have shaped Bailey, but will also resonate with the thousands of Londoners who pass through Waterloo Underground station every day, evoking nostalgia and memories against the backdrop of Hubert Gregg’s familiar tribute to the city.”

Bailey is also partnering with Iklectik, a grassroots organisation dedicated to experimental sound and performance practices and where she has previously performed. Members of Iklectik’s community will bring audio and music to a ‘Sonic Stories’ listening workshop taking place on Saturday 4 July at Peckham Levels. 

The first sound commission at Waterloo Underground station, which ran in 2024, was by London-based artist Joe Namy, involving creatives from different cultural and community spaces in London and focusing on Namy's interest in the politics of listening, music and translation. The following commission, in 2025, was by Turner prize-nominated artist Rory Pilgrim. It explored Pilgrim's engagement with those affected by the criminal justice system and the connection between London and Dorset's Isle of Portland, whose stone helped build London.

Art on the Underground is currently running its Pride Audio Tour, a new remote public audio guide produced in collaboration with OUTbound, TfL's LGBTQIA+ staff network. The tour invites customers and Londoners to explore five significant artworks while hearing personal reflections from LGBTQIA+ contributors connected to the pieces. Each stop on the audio tour pairs a featured artwork with a personal reflection, offering a range of voices, from TfL staff members and artists to individuals who have directly contributed to or been inspired by the works.