"This work is a tribute to the important project made by David Seymour across Europe after World War II called ‘Children of Europe’. My aim is to reflect on the contemporary issues affecting children in Europe, through the prism of what is happening in the UK.

Earlier this year I began making work in London, close to where I live, that looked at the traces of immigrant communities from the past and how those communities had become integrated into the place they had chosen to make their home. I was interested in seeing and recording the contrast between the cultural associations they had with their country of birth and the ‘Britishness’ they had acquired growing up and living in the UK.

I have expanded this work to look at children arriving in the UK both as economic migrants from Europe as well as refugees from around the world. I met with children who had been granted refugee status and those still awaiting an answer. Across a range of different families in London and Glasgow, I saw people struggling with difficult living conditions but also those who formed strong relationships with Britain and British families that had helped them. One young girl proclaimed, ‘I love the weather! I love the rain!’

I am interested in looking at the opportunities that have been gained in this 70-year period since the war and how the threat of losing those opportunities now looms as we embark on Brexit and a new period of closedness. How much has Europe progressed in terms of integration and pulling down barriers since the end of the Second World War? And how strong is the potential for regression that seems now to be looming?" (Olivia Arthur, 2017)

This project was supported by the Vovos Better World Fund and Positive Action in Housing, an independent homelessness and human rights charity (SC027577) dedicated to supporting women, children and men from refugee and migrant backgrounds to rebuild their lives.

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