Election 2005: Manifestos and Asylum Seekers
Alex Rotas, a close Leave to Remain collaborator has written an overview of the parties Manifestos on asylum and immigration.

The rhetoric across all parties is remarkably similar when it comes to asylum and continues a pattern established early on in the twentieth century. Every new immigration restriction of the twentieth century was accompanied by the slogan “firm but fair” and the restrictions now proposed in the various party manifestos wearyingly continue this pattern. The construction of the refugee as a burden, as a drain on public funds, as needy and therefore undesirable was put in place at the time of the first piece of legislation that set out to control their numbers, the Aliens Act of 1905. At this time, the ‘Alien Jew’ became linked indelibly to disease and to crime, both of which remain connected with newcomers to the country (whether as immigrants or as refugees) in the rhetoric of the Election manifestos a hundred years later. These factors make it depressingly difficult to decide where to put one’s vote next month. To read the full text please click on the following link: Election 2005: Manifestos and Asylum Seekers

Time Out, Election 2005 issue, is asking in its article Action Heroes: With voters disillusioned by the mainstream parties, could the growing number of single-issue campaigns be the answer? Rebecca Taylor and Becky Lucas report on the five individuals and groups, one of which is Leave to Remain. To read the full article, please visit the Press page.

Closing the Door?
The Jewish Museum, London
23 March - 21 August 2005

To mark the centenary of the Aliens Act, the Jewish Museum's exhibition Closing the Door? explores how immigration has affected British life over the last century and provides a fresh look at the controversial issue. It will illustrate how migrant and refugee communities have struggled and survived, despite the restrictions on their right of entry, and how they have enriched and enhanced British society. This original and significant exhibition examines the arguments used to oppose Jewish immigration in 1905, and how they have been endlessly recycled as new groups of immigrants arrive in changing political and economic circumstances. The exhibition will draw on personal stories, photographs, objects and documents from individuals who have settled in the UK from all over the world, to consider issues that have affected different generations of immigrants - the challenges to find housing, employment and healthcare, to acquire a new language while retaining valued cultural traditions, and the hostility often encountered from the existing community.

Raksha Patel, Portrait of Psyche 2001, Acrylic on canvas

The exhibition displays reflect the rich variety of cultures that flourish in Britain today as well as case studies highlighting the experiences of the individuals who have made their own difficult journeys to settle here. Documents, photographs, textiles, religious objects, cooking utensils and musical instruments are among the many colourful exhibits. Paintings and sculpture by first and second generation artists such as Chris Ofili, Edori Fertig, Qu Lei lei, Sula Chance, Raksha Patel (image above), Amal Ghosh and David Breuer Weil explore the themes of identity and migration.

T he exhibition is accompanied by a wide-ranging programme of talks and discussions, and creative workshops for children.
Venue: The Jewish Museum, 129-131 Albert Street, Camden Town, London NW1 7NB Tel. 020-7284 1997
Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 10am-4pm, Sunday 10am-5pm
Admission: £3.50, senior citizens £2.50, Children/Students/Disabled £1.50, Family ticket £8.
Group Visits and Educational Programmes welcome by prior arrangement
For further information and illustrations, please contact: Sara Priem on: Tel. 020 7284 1997, marketing@jmus.org.uk
Or visit the web-site www.jewishmuseum.org.uk

THE WAITING ROOMS
GP Surgeries, London, Sept 2004 - September 2005
The Goodinge Health Centre, London
25th April- end of June 2005

Drift Away, Suzana Tamamovic and Margareta Kern, 2004/05

ARTISTS: GEORGE BERBERIAN (Armenia/UK), MOHAMMED BUSHARA (Sudan/UK), MARTHA ELSESSER (Colombia/UK), MARIANA GORDON (Romania/UK), MIRYAM SANJARI (Iran/UK), MARGARETA KERN (Former Yugoslavia/UK) and SUZANA TAMAMOVIC (Bosnia and Herzegovina/UK). CURATORS - ASAKO YOKOYA for 198 GALLERY and CARYNE CHAPMAN CLARK

The Waiting Rooms Exhibition brings the work of seven artists, based in the UK, who have a first hand experience of exile. Artists were asked to respond through their work, specifically to the context of GP waiting rooms. The result is an exciting exhibition of diverse new work which will generate discussion around the themes of exile, place and belonging.

Caryne Chapman Clark, founder of Artists in Exile and Dr. Paul Kelland of the Shoreditch Park Surgery collaborated on a concept for touring a visual arts exhibition to particular doctors surgeries in London that have a large patient population of asylum seekers and refugees.
The Waiting Rooms Exhibition is taking place in 6 doctors surgeries in the north and east of London. The exhibition will remain in each surgery waiting room for 2-3 months before moving on to the next one.
Address of the Surgery: The Goodinge Health Centre, North Road, London N7 9EW
T:0207 619 6699
For further information on the Waiting Rooms exhibition, please contact Caryne Chapman Clark: caryne@tantraweb.co.uk

Leave to Remain artists Margareta Kern and Suzana Tamamovic, have collaborated on a new piece of work for the exhibition. Titled ‘Drift Away’, the work is exploring issues of time, waiting and that particular state of mind that one enters while waiting for something: ‘drifting’, filling in time with 'things to do', assembling and reassembling, pressure and release.
Surgery visitors are invited to write their drifting thoughts on paper, out of which they make the paper boats. The paper boats are collected, over a period of one year, and will be 'released' into the sea in a public performance. The exact location and time of this event will be announced closer to the time. To receive information about the final performance and/or the touring of the work please email us at paperboats@driftaway.iofm.net. For more information about the work and to make and send your own paper boat please check the web-site www.driftaway.iofm.net

WORK OPPORTUNITY

Interested in arts and refugee integration?
We want to hear from you if you have experience of running arts-based workshops with people of diverse cultures, or are an arts practitioner or organisation interested in mentoring or working, exhibiting or performing alongside refugees and people seeking asylum. We particularly want to hear from you if you have direct experience of displacement and migration.
Creating Routes believes that arts can play an important part in increasing inter-cultural understanding. We are focusing on Oxfordshire. We have already raised funds for two visual arts projects, and are discussing ideas for further projects, which will involve other art forms. There will be paid workshop opportunities, as well as public exhibitions and events.
We are collating a database of practitioners and workshop leaders who could be advised of events and employment opportunities in Oxfordshire. We are developing an informal network that could devise projects and support artists who are refugees. Also, we are an information hub for related organisations.
Please register your interest on creatingroutes@yahoo.co.uk and we’ll be in touch. Thanks, Candida Blaker.

RESEARCH

Artists and Social Inclusion Research
Artists are needed to take part in a research project looking at the impact of the Government’s social inclusion policies on artists and their work. Whilst there is existing and ongoing research into the impact of the arts and social inclusion on participants, there is currently little record of how social inclusion has affected artists.
The research will initially involve collecting experiences via email or telephone, with a random selection of one-to-one follow-up interviews lasting approximately1 hour. Interviewees will be granted anonymity so that neither they, nor associated organisations, can be identified through the research unless permission is granted.
The following areas are of particular interest:
1. Whether the emphasis on education, participation, development of new audiences and inclusion has provided you with opportunities to make work, or whether it has restricted you in any way.
2. How it has affected your funding opportunities.
3. Any residencies undertaken where the brief included making new work.
4. Experience of gallery run projects with an emphasis on audience development.
5. Publicly funded artist-led initiatives.

The research is being carried out by Judith Stewart, a freelance artist/curator, as part of her PhD project at Manchester Metropolitan University. Anyone willing to take part, please email jastew@dircon.co.uk

‘Leave to Remain’ provides visibility to issues of forced migration and related socio-political matters, by featuring the work and projects of contemporary artists who are displaced or whose work deals with displacement.

Leave to Remain aims to create new spaces for critical discussion concerning these matters.

Edited by Margareta Kern. Your suggestions & comments can be sent to margareta@leavetoremain.org