Closing the Door? Immigrants to Britain 1905-2005, The Jewish Museum, Camden, London
The door is closed! Go anywhere but here! This may be a more accurate take on the political rhetoric on immigration in Britain right now, but this sensitive and, for the most part intelligent, exhibition on immigrants in Britain since the 1905 Aliens Act, seeks to set the record straight.
Having attended the Connections exhibition at the Jewish Museum's site in Finchley earlier this year, I thought this Camden-located show might cover the same ground, but I was pleasantly surprised.
It is more comprehensive and consists of 15 text panels, nine individual case studies also on panels, and a wide range of displays, artefacts and documents, photographs and paintings as well as interactive features.
The exhibition is located throughout the greater part of the first floor of the museum. The museum has managed to squeeze depth into a small area.
The exhibition seems to fit its space nicely, even though it is juxtaposed to Jewish Byzantine coins and Roman artefacts.
I learned more about Daniel Mendoza, the 18th-century Jewish boxing champion, and I widened my knowledge of the festivals of Hanukah and Purim.
As I moved through the exhibition, the themes remained constant: immigration is not a modern phenomenon and this country would not be the same without it. The researchers have done their job.
The first fish and chip shop in London was opened by Joseph Malin in 1860. He matched the Jewish tradition of frying fish, with the Irish potato shop's custom of fried potatoes.
But there's more: from meals on wheels created by Dr Harban Lall Gulati from India; to the Mini, designed by Alex Issigonis, a Turkish-born engineer of Greek ancestry.
Then there's the ice-cream van and the Andrex lavatory roll, and the Bank of England: five of the seven founders of this very British institution were French Huguenots.
I saw the alien's certificate of Polly Ckimon, née Katz, born in Russia, and who, despite almost 40 years of residence, remained a registered alien. And the certificate of Regina Kobylak who had to register with the police every time she visited her parents in Scotland. This exhibition stirs compassion.
Utilising white space and white light, Closing the Door? never feels claustrophobic or cluttered, as some small museums can. Unlike Connections, this exhibition has a sense of permanency. Red panels are fixed securely to walls, not stuck up with Blu-Tack or fixed to rickety stands in the corner of a darkened room.
The style of the exhibition is clear, clean, distinct and fresh, at times verging on the clinical, with glass cabinets full of gems, such as the Study of the Good Practices in the Employment of Coloured Workers by Monty Meeth, or the Alien Immigrant by Major W Evans Gordon.
There are also paintings from Chris Ofili, David Breuer Weil and Amal Ghosh, but the pièce de la résistance is on TV screens at the back of the museum. Here, we encounter individual accounts of hope and heroism.
We see the true stories of the Vietnamese boat people from Nghi Luu; of Adil from Somalia and Prendush Lleshi, an Albanian from Scotland. These presentations show that ethnic minorities are not just city dwellers. They live in as many diverse places in Britain as they themselves are diverse.
The simple message that Closing the Door? delivers is that immigration is a constant part of Britain's history, and not one that ended with the Norman conquest.
The ancestors of many of today's Britons are Irish, Huguenots, Moors and other Africans, Romany, Lascars, Jews and Asians. It's time for a permanent museum dedicated to the subject.
Onyeka is the director of Narrative Eye and a lecturer in history and law
Project data
Cost: £6,061
Funders: The Jewish Museum, London Borough of Camden and various charitable trusts
Designer: Ian Lillicrapp at the Jewish Museum
Curators: Sarah Jillings and Jennifer Marin at the
Jewish Museum Exhibition ends: 21 August 2005
The door is closed! Go anywhere but here! This may be a more accurate take on the political rhetoric on immigration in Britain right now, but this sensitive and, for the most part intelligent, exhibition on immigrants in Britain since the 1905 Aliens Act, seeks to set the record straight.
Having attended the Connections exhibition at the Jewish Museum's site in Finchley earlier this year, I thought this Camden-located show might cover the same ground, but I was pleasantly surprised.
It is more comprehensive and consists of 15 text panels, nine individual case studies also on panels, and a wide range of displays, artefacts and documents, photographs and paintings as well as interactive features.
The exhibition is located throughout the greater part of the first floor of the museum. The museum has managed to squeeze depth into a small area.
The exhibition seems to fit its space nicely, even though it is juxtaposed to Jewish Byzantine coins and Roman artefacts.
I learned more about Daniel Mendoza, the 18th-century Jewish boxing champion, and I widened my knowledge of the festivals of Hanukah and Purim.
As I moved through the exhibition, the themes remained constant: immigration is not a modern phenomenon and this country would not be the same without it. The researchers have done their job.
The first fish and chip shop in London was opened by Joseph Malin in 1860. He matched the Jewish tradition of frying fish, with the Irish potato shop's custom of fried potatoes.
But there's more: from meals on wheels created by Dr Harban Lall Gulati from India; to the Mini, designed by Alex Issigonis, a Turkish-born engineer of Greek ancestry.
Then there's the ice-cream van and the Andrex lavatory roll, and the Bank of England: five of the seven founders of this very British institution were French Huguenots.
I saw the alien's certificate of Polly Ckimon, née Katz, born in Russia, and who, despite almost 40 years of residence, remained a registered alien. And the certificate of Regina Kobylak who had to register with the police every time she visited her parents in Scotland. This exhibition stirs compassion.
Utilising white space and white light, Closing the Door? never feels claustrophobic or cluttered, as some small museums can. Unlike Connections, this exhibition has a sense of permanency. Red panels are fixed securely to walls, not stuck up with Blu-Tack or fixed to rickety stands in the corner of a darkened room.
The style of the exhibition is clear, clean, distinct and fresh, at times verging on the clinical, with glass cabinets full of gems, such as the Study of the Good Practices in the Employment of Coloured Workers by Monty Meeth, or the Alien Immigrant by Major W Evans Gordon.
There are also paintings from Chris Ofili, David Breuer Weil and Amal Ghosh, but the pièce de la résistance is on TV screens at the back of the museum. Here, we encounter individual accounts of hope and heroism.
We see the true stories of the Vietnamese boat people from Nghi Luu; of Adil from Somalia and Prendush Lleshi, an Albanian from Scotland. These presentations show that ethnic minorities are not just city dwellers. They live in as many diverse places in Britain as they themselves are diverse.
The simple message that Closing the Door? delivers is that immigration is a constant part of Britain's history, and not one that ended with the Norman conquest.
The ancestors of many of today's Britons are Irish, Huguenots, Moors and other Africans, Romany, Lascars, Jews and Asians. It's time for a permanent museum dedicated to the subject.
Onyeka is the director of Narrative Eye and a lecturer in history and law
Project data
Cost: £6,061
Funders: The Jewish Museum, London Borough of Camden and various charitable trusts
Designer: Ian Lillicrapp at the Jewish Museum
Curators: Sarah Jillings and Jennifer Marin at the
Jewish Museum Exhibition ends: 21 August 2005
