11 October, 2018
Dima Karout is our first artist in residence for our Room to Breathe exhibition and will be curator in residence of the art studio in the exhibition. In this blog post, Dima introduces her artistic practice and approach and explains how our artist-in-residence series will work.
Dima Karout (centre)
I’m a visual artist and art educator. I work with mixed media to create images, texts and installations. In my research, artwork and classes, I advocate for socially engaged art.
My latest projects investigate the evolution of identity beyond borders, trace moments of internal and external conflicts and explore the relationship between people and places.
My work is a reflection of the human experience of migration and deals with visible and invisible boundaries, exile and the loss of home. It also sheds light on the greatness of the human soul and its invincible force to survive.
I grew up in Damascus, Syria. After finishing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in visual communication at the Fine Arts University of Damascus, I started an international journey. I have a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in contemporary art from Paris VIII University, France and a certificate in creative writing from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. In the past 15 years, I’ve exhibited work in Damascus, Leipzig, Paris, Montreal and London. I’ve lived and worked on different continents and discovered many cultures while developing experience in curating art exhibitions, organising cultural events, designing educational art programmes and teaching.
Today, I live and work in London. I am more and more interested in designing participatory installations and art workshops where people from different backgrounds can touch their creative side, reflect on current issues, express themselves and connect with others.
I am working with the Migration Museum throughout the run of their upcoming Room to Breathe exhibition as their artist and curator in residence.
For the first time, the Migration Museum is creating a residency programme for migrant artists. After launching an open call and reviewing the applications, we have invited a different artist each month to take up residency in the the art studio space that we have created as part of the exhibition. Each artist will be encouraged to rearrange the studio and make it their own. The artists will present their previous work and create new work in the studio.
I will be the first artist in residence (from 1 November until 2 December 2018) and will work with all of the invited artists who will subsequently take up residence during the rest of the exhibition run to create a creative programme, develop participatory and educational aspects of the art studio space, arrange meet-the-artist sessions, and curate a final group exhibition showcasing works created by all of our artists in residence during the course of the exhibition. More details about the invited artists-in-residence during the course of the exhibition will be published on the Migration Museum website soon.
During my residency, I wish to work on a new installation artwork: We Are Made of People and Places. This new work will reflect on personal identity and our human journey. If you wish to find out more about my previous work or new work in progress, come and have a conversation with me or participate in one of my workshops. I will be happy to welcome you into my ‘Room to Breathe’ during the month of November and share my passion for art with you.
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Dima Karout will be artist in residence from 1 November–2 December 2018. During her residency, she will host two hands-on educational workshops:
Fingerprints – Woodcut / Linocut Print Workshop on Saturday November 10, 11am–3pm
Connect the Dots – Acrylic Painting Workshop on Saturday November 24, 11am–3pm
Dima will be also hosting free weekly Meet-the-Artist sessions throughout her residency every Sunday in November from 3pm–4pm, during which visitors will have the chance to ask a question, answer one, print a bridge and leave a trace in her art studio. See the Facebook event pages for more information:
Sunday 4 November, 3pm–4pm
Sunday 11 November, 3pm–4pm
Sunday 18 November, 3pm–4pm
Sunday 25 November, 3pm–4pm
To find out more about Dima’s work, visit dimakarout.com
About the art studio in Room to Breathe
The art studio inside our Room to Breathe exhibition is a space curated by visual art and educator Dima Karout to explore the role of art and creativity in helping people settle into new lives in Britain, and to offer educational art experiences for visitors. Each month, the studio will host a different migrant artist to share their work and process.
View the full schedule of artists in residence and find out more about Room to Breathe
30 August, 2018
The Migration Museum is planning an exhibition called Room to Breathe launching in November 2018 and running through Summer 2019. We want to explore the theme of resilience of immigrants through a series of rooms designed to encourage visitor interaction. One of the rooms is a small art studio – (approximately 6 metres x 6 metres) in which we would like to exhibit the work of refugee or migrant artists.
We are working with visual artist Dima Karout as our artist/curator in residence for the artist studio. She is collaborating with us to create the art studio concept and its educational and participatory aspects.
We are inviting refugee or migrant artists based in London to apply for the opportunity to work in the art studio for a period of three weeks to one month. Each artist will be invited to make this art studio space his or her own by adding their personal elements. The artist will use the space to display previous work, create new work around the theme of resilience, and then participate in a group show at the end of the main exhibition in July.
We expect the artists to:
- Be available for three weeks to one month in either March/April/May or June 2019
- Be present in the studio as much as possible during their stay
- Have some work already made that can be displayed
- Help install their work and set up the studio at the beginning of their stay
- Act in the role of invigilator of the space
- Occasionally interact and talk with the museum visitors
- Help visitors make an artistic contribution to the space if they want to
- Prepare and run two scheduled workshops in the studio or the larger space within the gallery
- Create work around the subject of resilience during their stay
- Participate in and help install a group exhibition at the end of the exhibition run
We offer:
- £500 that will need to cover all your fees, expenses and materials (The art studio will be fitted out with tables, basic art materials, easels etc. But you can personalise the space to your style during your stay)
- An opportunity to exhibit and sell your work
- Publicity through our website and social media
- Welcome and help with installing and setting up
Please send a short proposal (A4) to include:
- An idea in writing of what you want to work on and make, related to the theme of resilience, during your time in the space. Explain what medium you will use and what possible workshops you can facilitate
- Max of ten photos or links that show your previous work
- A short biography
Please send this file by email to:
Sue McAlpine, Migration Museum Curator: sue@migrationmuseum.org
Application Format:
All info in one pdf file
Title of the file: YourFullName.pdf
Subject of the email: Art Studio Application
Deadline: September 25, 2018
20 June, 2018
© Clear Channel
The Migration Museum highlighted the diversity of the England team in a campaign to coincide with England’s first World Cup game against Tunisia on 18 June 2018 asking what the starting XI would look like without the impact of first and second-generation immigrants.
In partnership with Wonderhood Studios and Clear Channel, the Migration Museum released a five-man team sheet in digital out-of-home and on social media in response to the team announcement before kick-off, championing immigration as a powerful force for good at a moment when all eyes were on the England national team.
“The diverse nature of England’s World Cup team highlights the contribution of migrants in making us who we are today. In fact, if you trace back the family histories of every member of tonight’s team, you would almost certainly find a migration story – whether of immigration, emigration, or both,” said Sophie Henderson, director of the Migration Museum.
“But migration has shaped far more than just tonight’s starting line-up. That’s why we are creating an inspiring national museum that puts Britain’s important migration story at the forefront of our national consciousness – where it belongs.”
“Clear Channel is delighted to be able to support this outstanding creative work for The Migration Museum and demonstrate the immediacy, impact and flexibility of digital out of home,” said William Eccleshare, Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel International.
Migration Museum World Cup Press Release 180618
23 July, 2018
When people express anxieties about immigration, they tend to do so in terms of its economic, social or cultural effect on the country – and occasionally all three. Of these, the social effect of immigration continues to be the most divisive, with strident voices expressing bitterly opposing views. As far as the other two are concerned, most people (outside a relatively small minority) feel that the cultural impact of immigration has been largely beneficial: the food we eat, the music we listen to, the sport we follow, the actors in the plays and films we watch, the fashion that excites us – all of these have been unquestionably enhanced by the influence of people coming to this country from elsewhere. The economic impact is more finely nuanced: while some people claim there is an incontestable benefit in terms of the energy, the dynamism, the ambition and the entrepreneurism of many immigrants, others claim that the jobs immigrants take could have gone to ‘native’ ‘Britons’ (both of which terms are highly controversial). But then, say others, ‘native’ ‘Britons’ are not taking these jobs in any case and, besides, there are not enough such ‘natives’ to look after our increasingly ageing population.
It is this aspect of the economic impact of immigration that Dr Zsóka Kóczán examines in the guest blog that follows. The blog is taken from a longer article Zsóka co-authored with Benjamin Hilgenstock in 2018, ‘Storm Clouds Ahead? Migration and labor force participation rates in Europe’ (IMF Working Paper No. 18/148). Over the months to come, we hope to feature other blogs by Zsóka on other aspects of the immigration debate.
Population growth in most advanced economies is slowing, life expectancy is rising and the number of elderly people is soaring. These trends are expected to accelerate further: the United Nations projects that by the middle of this century the total population will be shrinking in almost half of all advanced economies. Those of working age will be supporting close to double the number of elderly people they do now. Understandably, this raises huge concerns about the sustainability of pension and health care systems and social safety nets.
Migration has, so far, mitigated some of the effects of ageing. Since the mid-1980s natural population growth, measured as the difference between fertility and mortality, has been falling in most advanced economies, while net migration (the difference between those leaving and those arriving) has accounted for about half of the population growth (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Contributions of natural population growth and net migration to total population growth in advanced economies (%)
Migrants are more likely to be of prime working age (i.e. aged between 25 and 54) than natives because they arrive, typically, after they have completed their education and often leave when they retire, as Renzo (2017) noted for the UK (see Figure 2). Because participation in the labour force, as measured by the proportion of the adult population working or looking for work, is highest among those in this age group, migration can help to increase overall participation. As Coleman and Rowthorn (2004) highlighted for the United Kingdom, immigration’s substantial demographic and economic benefits are much larger than its mostly small or transient economic costs.
Figure 2: Age profile of natives and migrants (% population)
There are also, however, differences between migrants and natives in the rates of participation in the labour force, and these differences vary by gender and age (see Figure 3). Data from 25 advanced European economies from the European Union Labour Force Survey suggests that prime-age migrant men’s participation is very similar to that of prime-age native men (both around 92 per cent in the UK), while participation is significantly lower among prime-age migrant women than among prime-age native women (74 and 80 per cent respectively in the UK). Young migrants are more likely to be in the labour force than young natives (as young natives are on average more likely to be in education), but participation among migrants aged 55 and older is slightly lower than for natives in the same age group, again largely because of lower participation among migrant women.
Figure 3: Participation rates of prime-age natives and migrants in the labour force, by sex and immigration status, 2000–16
What is holding back migrants’ involvement in the labour market? Migrants’ participation decisions are shaped by many of the same factors that shape those of natives. People who are more educated participate more. Being married and having children typically increases the odds of participation for prime-age men, but lowers it for prime-age women. Working or having worked in an occupation with a higher share of tasks that could be automated is associated with lower odds of participation.
Migrant participation rates converge toward those of natives over time: participation increases with years in the host country, especially for prime-age women. An additional year in the host country is estimated to increase the odds of participation by 4–7 per cent, even when individual and household characteristics are taken into consideration (see Figure 4). As noted by Cooper, Campbell, Patel and Simmons (2014) in an in-depth study of the labour market outcomes of migrants and natives in the UK, migrants from the European Economic Area tend to do better in terms of employment outcomes than those from outside it, and those who came for work purposes do better than refugees. This is also in line with the earlier findings of Dustmann and Fabbri (2005) on immigrants in the British labour market.
Figure 4: Evolution of participation rates of prime-age natives and migrants in the labour force, by sex and immigration status, 2000–16
However, there also appear to be significant differences between the drivers of the participation decisions of migrants and natives. For instance, being married and having children has larger negative effects on the participation of migrant women than on native women. While some of this discrepancy could be due to differences in attitudes and social norms, institutional obstacles also appear to be holding back migrants’ involvement in the labour market. In particular, a key difference between migrants and natives relates to the effects of education on participation. Migrants are on average somewhat less educated than natives in advanced European countries, and this difference is particularly pronounced for women: 26 per cent of prime-age migrant men and 27 per cent of prime-age migrant women only got as far as lower secondary education, whereas 20 per cent of prime-age native men and 18 per cent of prime-age native women progressed beyond this. However, in addition to these differences between average education levels, higher education increases the odds of working or looking for work less for migrants than for natives.
Unemployment queue, 1976 © Peter Marlow “Institutional obstacles also appear to be holding back migrants’ involvement in the labour market“
One potential reason for this finding could be the difficulty migrant workers may face in getting the same benefits (in terms of a higher likelihood of employment) from higher education as natives. This would also be consistent with the large literature on migrant wage gaps, which suggests that even taking into account that migrants and natives may differ in terms of their other characteristics (such as their education levels or language skills), migrants tend to earn less than natives, possibly because they have difficulty having their qualifications recognised (see for instance Schmitt and Wadsworth 2006, Coulombe, Grenier and Nadeau 2014).
The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) indicates how easy or difficult it is for migrants to get their academic and professional qualifications recognised and skills validated. An examination of two country groups – countries with more favourable policies in this respect (including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) and countries with less favourable policies (including Austria, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg) – shows that there are smaller differences between natives and migrants in countries with favourable policies for upper secondary education. Favourable policies also increase the positive effects of tertiary education on the odds of participating for both natives and migrants, though they do not reduce the difference between them.
Overall, migration thus plays a very significant role in alleviating the pressures of an ageing population, largely because migrants are more likely to be prime-age than natives. If it weren’t for migration, the decline in labour force participation would be significantly deeper. Policies that support migrant integration, such as recognition of educational qualifications or language training, could, however, further increase the positive economic effect of migration in advanced economies. This could help mitigate some of the future negative effects of ageing and help make social safety nets more sustainable in these economies. Higher migration flows could also contribute more broadly to the supply of labour and the host economy — increasing output per capita by boosting demand and investment, contributing to technological progress, and increasing labour productivity.
References
Coleman, David and Rowthorn, Robert (2004) ‘The Economic Effects of Immigration into the United Kingdom’, Population and Development Review 30(4): 579–624.
Cooper, Jacquie, Stuart Campbell, Dhiren Patel and Jon Simmons (2014) ‘The Reason for Migration and Labour Market Characteristics of UK Residents Born Abroad’, Home Office Occasional Paper No. 110.
Coulombe, Serge, Gilles Grenier and Serge Nadeau (2014) ‘Human Capital Quality and the Immigrant Wage Gap’, IZA Journal of Migration 3(14).
Dustmann, Christian and Fabbri,Francesca (2005) ‘Immigrants in the British Labour Market’, Fiscal Studies 26(4): 423–70.
Hilgenstock, Benjamin and Kóczán, Zsóka (2018) ‘Storm Clouds Ahead? Migration and Labor Force Participation Rates in Europe’, IMF Working Paper No. 18/148.
Schmitt, John and Wadsworth, Jonathan (2006) ‘Changing Patterns in the Relative Economic Performance of Immigrants to Great Britain and the United States, 1980–2000’, Centre for Economic Performance Working Paper No. 1422.
Rienzo, Cinzia (2017) ‘Characteristics and Outcomes of Migrants in the UK Labour Market’, Migration Observatory Briefing.
Dr Zsóka Kóczán is an Economist in the World Economic Studies Division of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund, having worked previously in the European Department. Before joining the IMF in 2013, she worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is interested in applied microeconomics, inequality, and migration.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and should not be attributed to the IMF, its executive board, or its management.
