News

Migration Museum’s exhibition wins award

Heart of the Nation is at the Migration Museum in Lewisham until 27 July 2024.

The exhibition features dozens of personal stories contributed by NHS workers

By: Pramod Thomas

THE Migration Museum’s exhibition which features dozens of personal stories by migrant NHS workers has won the ‘Oscars of the Museum World’ last week, a statement said.

The Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS national touring exhibition has won the temporary or touring exhibition of the Year award at the Museums + Heritage awards 2024.

It showcases stories and experiences of migrant workers at the health service at all levels since 1948. Photography, film, oral histories, keepsakes, newly commissioned artworks, and a music and film installation co-created by artists Kaia Laurielle and Emmanuel Sugo and seven first- and second-generation migrant NHS workers are also part of the exhibition.

Aditi Anand, artistic director at the Migration Museum and lead curator of Heart of the Nation, said: “Heart of the Nation highlights the vital role that migrants have always played in the NHS and the extent to which, just like the NHS, migration is central to the very fabric of who we are in Britain – as individuals, as communities and as a nation. Now more than ever, this is a story that needs to be told.”

“This project is dedicated to all the NHS workers from around the world who care for us – we are honoured to be able to share and preserve your stories for future generations.”

The exhibition was launched last year at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery to coincide with the NHS’s 75th anniversary, and later moved to the Migration Museum pop-up in Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

Now, it is live at the Migration Museum in Lewisham, south London.

Bernard Donoghue OBE, one of the award judges and director and CEO of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, said: “We were impressed, and moved, that the exhibition told the stories of individual people; their individuality, passions, sacrifices and contributions to the NHS, to society, and to the UK came through powerfully. We were delighted to award the Migration Museum this prestigious prize and urge everyone to see this wonderful exhibition.”