Aditi Anand has been with the Migration Museum since 2015 and was appointed as artistic director in 2021.
The Migration Museum highlights stories of those who moved to and from Britain both recently and over the course of history.
During her tenure, Anand has helped to transform a large retail unit in a London shopping centre into a temporary Migration Museum, which has established a reputation as a leading museum in the country’s capital.
She also helped the organisation to navigate the challenges of lockdown, with her digital exhibition, ‘Heart of the Nation – Migrants and the Making of the NHS’ subsequently showing in Piccadilly during lockdown and then at venues across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Anand is now working on the designs and vision for the Migration Museum’s permanent home in the City of London, which is expected to open in 2027. This new location will include an immersive experience looking into Britain’s long history of migration, accompanied by temporary exhibitions that address current issues.
Additionally, the Migration Museum in London will be at the centre of a national network that includes pop-ups across the UK, combined with its extensive digital presence.
“Aditi is a trailblazer in rapidly creating exhibitions and immersive experiences exploring complex themes of migration, identity and belonging in ways which draw audiences in to engage, reflect and debate,” says one person who nominated her.
“Her exhibitions consistently inspire. All have opportunities for people from all walks of life to participate and engage in dialogue with each other, for example: exploring the intersections of food, migration and identity through a crowd-sourced recipe book for people to share family recipes; and an organically growing conversation wall with envelopes and cards for people to write questions about race and offer answers to questions asked by others.”
Anand graduated from Yale with a degree in anthropology and women’s, gender & sexuality studies. Her experience includes roles with The New School in New York, the non-profit Going To School in New Delhi, exhibition and media design agency Local Projects, and the Yes Foundation in Mumbai.