Despite a world-class museum sector and a complex history of migration, Britain does not have a permanent museum exploring the movement of people to and from these shores. Mona Jamil of the Migration Museum is working to rectify that. 

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Deputy Mayor praises project addressing hate through stories of inclusion (see p7)

Angela Hui, guest curator of the Chinese Takeaway installation in our All Our Stories exhibition, appeared on Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 talking about the future of the High Street, her Takeaway installation and the Migration Museum

Sunder Katwala: ‘I was reflecting on Britain and America in giving the Migration Museum’s annual lecture last week, exploring how the history of migration might influence the future.’

Sunder Katwala: ‘I was reflecting on the story of Ellis Island in giving the Migration Museum’s annual lecture last week. The Migration Museum describes itself as ‘Britain’s missing museum’, since there is no permanent, dedicated museum on the topic in this country. It is currently engaging public audiences in its latest temporary home in Lewisham shopping centre, on its own journey to a landmark permanent home in the City from 2027.’

Sadiq Khan has been asked by the London Assembly to give more support to the capital’s Migration Museum, which is trying to raise £20m as it moves into a new, permanent location.

The London Assembly has called on the mayor and deputy mayor for culture and creative industries to explore public funding options for the Migration Museum, which plans to move to a new permanent location in the city of London.

“It was a surreal experience,” Hui said of installing the work, which she describes as “a love letter” to Chinese takeaways. “I would never have thought to see my story in a museum. I just wanted to document the almost thankless job of working in an immigrant-owned hospitality business.” These beloved local restaurants in rural white areas are “often people’s introduction to a different cuisine, the building blocks for their palates to explore new things,” Hui added. Yet, “we don’t often get to see them as having any cultural importance.”

Over the years the museum has become entwined with Lewisham’s community, incorporating schools, youth groups, organisations and locals into its work and offering a space for residents to meet and spend their time. The Migration Museum will move to Square Mile in 2027, but before then, its South London base has some exciting events left up its sleeve.

Shafi Musaddique visits the Migration Museum to explore its latest exhibition aiming to provide a di!erent lens on how immigration, and emigration, has shaped the country – and how it has been a consistent feature of the need for human development

Since its founding nearly a decade ago, The Migration Museum has been exploring how the movement of people to and from the UK across the ages has shaped the nation. For its latest large-scale exhibition All Our Stories, the museum has curated a showcase of immersive installations, art, film and photography to highlight the immeasurable and enriching impact migration has had on society.

An Instagram reel by hyphen magazine on our All Our Stories exhibition, featuring interviews with our Artistic Director Aditi Anand and contributing artists

All Our Stories features the centrality of migration in Britain through immersive installations, art, film, sound-booths, photography, and personal stories created by the award-winning curatorial team at the Migration Museum. Exploring the ways in which migration has shaped both the individual, as well as the collective, the exhibition presents the rich tapestry of migration, from questions of belonging, cultural assumptions about identity and displacement, as well as the impact of contemporary responses.

Our Artistic Director Aditi Anand and guest curator and exhibition contributor Angela Hui were guests on the Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London talking about our exhibition All Our Stories: Migration and the Making of Britain

Our CEO Sophie Henderson was interviewed by Maxwell Museums about our journey so far, current exhibition and future plans. 

“An ambitious new London Migration Museum exhibition, All Our Stories, zeroes in on the central role migration and migrant communities have had on shaping the social fabric of the UK via art and storytelling.”

All Our Stories is a major new exhibition that has just opened at the Migration Museum in London, shining a light on how central migration has always been to our lives in Britain through immersive installations, art, film, photography, personal stories and keepsakes.

A Vogue Italia article on London Fashion Week and related themes featured our All Our Stories exhibition.

The Migration Museum is home to important artefacts which show how migration has shaped Britain over many centuries. There are plans to take some of the content to other parts of the UK. Aditi Anand is the Artistic Director of the London based museum. Reporter Nasser Hanif

Migration is “often seen as something that’s very divisive” but in reality “is just a part of our daily lives”, said Aditi Anand, curator of “All Our Stories: Migration and the Making of Britain”. “It’s shaped Britain over the centuries and we want to get a sense of that long history and show that migration has always been happening,” she told AFP.