On 22 March 2005, Sir Trevor McDonald opened a topical new exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Camden Town, marking the centenary of the Aliens Act. Closing the Door - Immigrants to Britain 1905-2005 explores how immigration has affected British life over the last century and provides a fresh look at the controversial issue. It illustrates 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 - stunningly highlighted by a display of newspaper headlines covering the last century. 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.

The exhibition also explores how generations of migrants have found a place in British society, how their food, language and cultural traditions have become part of mainstream culture, from bagels to curry to carnival. Their economic contribution is considerable, with immigrants today contributing 10% more to the economy in taxes than they consume in public services. Cities such as London have benefited at every level from immigrant labour, from the clothing businesses built up by Jewish and South Asian migrants, to the Commonwealth doctors and nurses who supported the new welfare state.

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 Leilei, Sula Chance, Raksha Patel, Amal Ghosh and David Breuer Weil explore the themes of identity and migration.

ABOUT AMAL GHOSH

Artist Amal Ghosh was born in Calcutta, India, in 1933. He studied at the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta with tutors who had graduated from the British Slade School in the 1930s. As a result, his artistic training was characterised by strong classical European bias which emphasised formal instruction. After moving to the UK in the 1960s, he completed his postgraduate education at the Central School of Art & Design in London, which later became Central St. Martins College of Art & Design. He received an MA from Calcutta University in 1972 and did a postgraduate course in art therapy at Hertfordshire College of Art, in St. Albans in 1982.

Ghosh's early paintings were heavily influenced by European techniques. Paradoxically, it was in England that he became more acquainted with his own cultural heritage with the help of his tutors, artists Cecil Collins and Alan Davie, who were familiar with Indian artists such as Rabindranath Tagore. Ghosh's subsequent works underwent a gradual transformation as he moved away from formal realisation. He began teaching at Central St. Martins in 1969, which provided him with the opportunity to consolidate his vast artistic background, and at the same time, experiment with new approaches.

Amal Ghosh's technique is derived from a strong interplay of allegory, use of colours, light and scale. His paintings are designed to function on many levels and the meaning and interpretation of his works are as a result never literal. He often abandons conventional perspective and distorts the background and foreground as a device to engage the viewer.

Amal Ghosh currently lives and works in London and travels to India annually where he has a studio and regularly exhibits his works. He is a visiting professor at the Government College of Art and the Vishwa Bharati University's Kala Bhavan or College of Fine Arts and Crafts, in Shantiniketan, Calcutta.

ABOUT RAKSHA PATEL

Raksha is an artist and has worked as an educator since 1997. She studied at Norwich School of Art graduating in 1994 and The Slade School of Fine Art. On completing her MFA in painting from the Slade in 1998 she was awarded the year long First Base Studio Award (ACAVA). Since then she has exhibited at South London Gallery (the Video Lounge) 2005, Site Gallery (projection space) 2004, The Prenelle Gallery 2004, Nth-Art OLS & Co 2003, Art-Tube 01 The London Underground 2001, Rugby Museum and Art Gallery 2000, City Gallery Leicester 2000, Gallery 2 at The University of Bradford 2000 and 198 Gallery in 1996.

In 2000, she was commissioned by Public Art Leicester, Leicester City Council to design a master plan for a site-specific public garden. For this project, Raksha designed a path system based on a journey through the internal system of the human body. The piece was made from stone with carved text pieces. The project looked at the relationship between the body and medicinal plants and herbs, which were to be grown in the surrounding landscape.

Her artistic practice combines the media of paint, film and video installation. She looks at scientific and philosophical beliefs based on the relationship between the body and the mind, exploring notions of existence, impermanence and infinity. Raksha explores this relationship through her practise of Vipassana, a technique of meditation with roots in ancient Indian culture. Currently she is researching ideas of colour theory and working towards a video installation that is based on the five senses.

In addition to the Whitechapel, Raksha works for Tate Britain as an educator for the schools programme. She has also worked as an artist educator for the Serpentine Gallery, The National Gallery, London, South London Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, New Walsall Art Gallery, Tate Modern and the V & A Museum and as a visiting lecturer at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and the University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

She lives and works in London.

The 'Closing the Doors - Immigration from 1905 - 2005' exhibition runs from 23 March - 21 August 2005 and is accompanied by a wide-ranging programme of talks and discussions, and creative workshops for children.