Fuelled by the UK government, at this very moment in time we are only told one side of the migration story, that which I call the media story; that Migrants from the Middle East are Islamic extremists whereas the Migrants from the EU take our jobs. The objective of MIGRANT International Photographic Exhibition is to tell multiple stories.

The exhibition was triggered by the 1946 George Orwell’s column “As I Please”, originally wrote for The Tribune newspaper. Seventy years later, we fall in the same debate on Migration, showing that people are still not well informed by the media. As Orwell stated:

“People are not told with sufficient clarity what is happening, and why, and what may be expected to happen in the near future. As a result, every calamity, great or small, takes the mass of the public by surprise, and the Government incurs unpopularity by doing things which any government, of whatever colour, would have to do in the same circumstances”


Orwell emphasises that disinformation triggers confused opinions “The fact is that there is strong popular feeling in this country against foreign immigration. It arises from simple xenophobia, partly from fear of undercutting in wages, but above all from the out-of-date notion that Britain is overpopulated and that more population means more unemployment"

After reading Orwell’s column, I realised that history was repeating itself and that not many people in the Arts were doing anything interesting on the subject of Migration so I decided to mobilise my contacts and bring together the group of people that has made this exhibition possible.

Focusing on the subject rather than the objectified migrant of the media, “MIGRANTS, What Does Migration Mean to You?” offers the audience a platform where to become acquainted with a more diverse reality than that presented by the media by inviting photographers to submit their work.