Open Britain: portraits of migration, belonging and hope
Photographer JJ Keith has been roaming the UK, capturing the laughter, sadness, hope and opportunity that are an integral part of its makeup
Summary
Through his portrait series, Open Britain: Portrait of a Diverse Nation, photographer JJ Keith tells the story of migration in Britain through the individual accounts of first-generation immigrants. These profiles showcase individual journeys filled with laughter, sadness, hope and opportunity. Through his work, Keith celebrates the value and power of inclusivity and the ability of immigrants to enrich the lives of communities across the UK, as well as of society as a whole.
Open Britain: Portrait of a Diverse Nation celebrates migration – and is part of an ongoing endeavour to demonstrate the value and power of inclusivity. It is about the give and take of migration, how it mutually enriches the lives of immigrants and the communities and society in which they make new homes. Each intimate picture, story and conversation portrays a small portion of the successes, hardships and adventures that are woven into the UK’s social fabric.
I was driven to tell the stories of first-generation immigrants by the experience of my own father, Heinz Leopold Klapp. Born in 1919 in Vienna, Austria, Heinz grew up an only child. As war approached, a London-based uncle suggested Heinz and his mother, Anna, come to England. The gravity of the situation was not clear at that stage – Anna chose to stay in Vienna.
Heinz travelled to Zagreb, working his way up through Italy before claiming refugee status in Switzerland. He was eventually taken to the Orkney Islands to join the British army and given new papers and a new name: Heinz Leopold Klapp became Henry Lancelot Keith.
Anna was deported from Vienna to Riga, where she was murdered in the Shoah. Heinz’s father, Gustave, who had been trading paper with China, was murdered in Shanghai.
In postwar London, Heinz started again with nothing – organising parties and events before creating a fashion mini store on the King’s Road, a small hotel in Hampstead and two restaurants in the West End. Seeing the soaring price of real estate, he turned his hand to property.
My father died in 1988, having had a full and happy life, despite the unfathomably hard early years. What he achieved under such adverse conditions has always filled me with pride. This project is dedicated to him.
Name: Osman, Country: Egypt
I took this shot of Osman in his arch. After a brief chat, I realised his story was even more powerful than the photo – and so the first instalment of Open Britain was created.
Osman was born in Osman Village near Cairo, the eldest of five. His father was a fruit farmer, and Osman used that knowledge to build a thriving import-export business with 250 employees. In 2013, a UK company placed a $450,000 order – half up front, half on delivery – but never paid the second half. Osman took on debt to avoid layoffs. In 2014, he sold his car and came to the UK to sue the company. Legal costs drained him, and he ended up homeless.
Charities including Streetlink, St Mungo’s and No Second Night Out helped. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, moneylenders threatened his family. Osman considered suicide but reached out to Westminster’s mental health team.
One day, he noticed London’s juice scene was lacking. With help from the charity Tern and a £5,300 loan, he opened a juice stall. Today, Osman runs multiple shops and a restaurant.
The UK company went bankrupt. That money is gone. But Osman still donates 5% of profits to homeless charities. Now under Human Rights status, he hopes to gain citizenship – and never forgets his family in Egypt.
Name: Viveth Hardy, Country: Jamaica
Viveth Hardy is known as “the station lady that sings”. Born and raised in St Mary’s, Jamaica, she worked in a snack factory and raised four boys before moving to the UK in 2002 with her youngest, then just 18 months old.
Viveth brings joy to commuters on London’s overground with her spontaneous bursts of song. “It’s not about wanting to sing,” she says. “It’s spiritual. I wake up with a song in my head. I just sing. I’m like a boom-box.” Whether on the platform, in the street or at home, her voice is always ready.
Her early days in the UK were tough. Unable to juggle work and childcare, she sent her youngest son back to Jamaica to be cared for by his older brothers. One is now a barber in Philadelphia; the others remain in Jamaica, where she sends money home to help offset the rising cost of living.
Why did she move here? “It’s a mystery!” she laughs – and Viveth laughs a lot – but behind the cheer is strength. Life hasn’t been easy, but she meets it with grace, grit and music. “I don’t have any shame in my game,” she says. And she means it.
Name: Michiko Mitsuishi Dodd, Country: Japan
Michiko Mitsuishi Dodd, 101, was born in the seaside town of Kobe, Japan. One of four siblings, she lost her father at 12, shortly after her sister “eloped with an idiot”, breaking his heart.
In 1947, Michiko met her husband Jeremy at a party on an RAF base – she was working as an interpreter, he as a hospital staff member. “He looked very miserable, and I felt sorry for him,” she says. They had four children, but Jeremy returned to England, leaving Michiko to raise the children alone in postwar Japan, where single mothers were shunned. Her father-in-law arranged for them to join Jeremy in the UK, where they married.
After spells in the US and Japan, the couple returned to England and later divorced. Michiko used money from her father-in-law to buy a disused railway carriage on the south coast, haggling the price down from £3,000 to £2,750. She transformed it into a home using self-taught DIY skills.
She’s lived there for 60 years and is now cared for by her daughter, Rachel. Though nearly deaf, Michiko’s spirit remains fierce – she continued to drive until recently, when police impounded her car. She refused to get out – Michiko was furious.
Name: Zubeid Namigul, Country: Pakistan
Zubeid Namigul was born in Peshawar, Pakistan in 2000. His parents fled Afghanistan during the Soviet war and moved to the UK when Zubeid was seven. Today, he is an associate pathology practitioner at Charing Cross Hospital.
He graduated in biomedical sciences in 2022 and now works in cellular pathology, preparing tissue samples for diagnostic analysis. Coming from a traditional Muslim background, Zubeid was given the option of an arranged marriage. He met his future wife on Zoom, and over three years, they got to know each other remotely.
In 2021, Zubeid travelled to Afghanistan to meet and marry her in person. He planned to stay three months to sort her UK visa, but just 18 days in, on her birthday, the Taliban regained control. The couple were evacuated on a military plane in the chaos that followed.
Resettling in the UK has been challenging for Zubeid’s wife, adjusting to a new culture after such a traumatic uprooting. But the birth of their daughter, now nine months old, has brought them joy and focus.
Zubeid’s story reflects both resilience and quiet determination – a life shaped by global conflict, love across borders and the grounding presence of family.
Name: Dimitri Stefanov, Country: Bulgaria
Dimitri Stefanov’s chandelier shop on London’s King’s Road is more than a showroom – it’s a beacon. Born in Bulgaria, Dimitri didn’t attend school much. At 14, he moved with his parents to Greece and worked in polytunnels (a type of greenhouse), a time he remembers fondly.
In 2009, he moved to the UK to join a friend who dealt in antique lighting. Though inexperienced, Dimitri quickly embraced the work, helping clean, restore and run the shop. His talent was spotted five years later by renowned chandelier maker Philip Turner, who mentored him in the art of restoration and creation.
In 2010, Dimitri salvaged old iron frames and was inspired by raw rock crystals tucked away in a friend’s drawer. He crafted a chandelier that sold in three days. A pair of swan chandeliers followed – also snapped up immediately.
Encouraged by Philip, Dimitri began making his own designs and now ranks among the world’s top rock crystal chandelier specialists. His clients include celebrities, royalty, Claridge’s, Annabel’s and even the Gaudí Museum in Barcelona.
Dimitri is Philip’s legacy in the antique world, and creating chandeliers is his passion. Still, he smiles when recalling the quiet simplicity of life in the polytunnels.
Name: Sinead Stone (née Doherty), Country: Ireland
Sinead Stone (née Doherty) is recently married, and still adjusting to her new name. She hails from Donegal, on Ireland’s rugged northwest coast. Sinead grew up with her younger brother Eugene, a fisherman father and a carer mother – grateful for what she calls a “free” and joyful childhood.
The first in her family to attend university, Sinead studied children’s and general nursing at Trinity College, Dublin. With no student loans in Ireland, she credits her hardworking parents for making it possible. Though creatively inclined, she chose nursing for its stability and family connection.
Initially drawn to palliative care, she found it too emotionally taxing and turned to paediatrics. In 2015, she was recruited to Great Ormond Street Hospital and later specialised as a paediatric allergy nurse. Though she misses the satisfaction of “making children better and sending them home”, she enjoys the intensity of allergy testing and long-term care.
Sinead loves London – its energy, acceptance, and the freedom to develop her personal style. Once overwhelmed by its individuality, she now celebrates being “unapologetically yourself”.
She channels her creativity into making flower crowns from discarded or found blooms. Breathing life into forgotten flowers, like nurturing young patients, sparks joy in her.
Name: Jama Elmi, Country: Somalia
Jama Elmi moved to the UK from Somalia at age eight, fleeing the civil war with his family. His father, a former ambassador to the UK, secured their resettlement. Adjusting to life in London was tough until Jama, aged nine, wore pink trousers and a Hawaiian shirt to school. Then, “all the kids came flocking”.
In 2018, riding the Central Line, Jama looked around and saw only grey and black. Frustrated, he went shopping and reignited his love for bold fashion. Today, he owns nearly 90 colourful suit combinations.
Jama works as a mental health support worker. He wore his rainbow suit to the job interview and residents loved it. One by one they walked in, complimenting his look – some even hugged him. “The boss lady” hired him on the spot.
His suits now serve a therapeutic purpose. Residents pick colours for him to wear and, when one resident stopped speaking, Jama arrived in an intentionally clashing outfit – sparking laughter and conversation again.
Outside work, Jama’s flamboyant style spreads joy. He’s stopped daily for photos and smiles, and was even named “London’s Best Dressed Man”. At home, he cares for his elderly mother, who only asks, “How much is this all costing you?”.
Name: Elizabeth Akalawu, Country: Nigeria
Elizabeth Akalawu was born in Imo State, southeast Nigeria, to yam-farming parents. A gifted student, she trained in general nursing and midwifery, taught by Irish nurses to European standards. She came to the UK intending to stay two years – 60 years later, she’s still here.
It wasn’t easy at first. Homesick and underestimated, Elizabeth was told to retrain, despite her qualifications. “They laughed at me,” she recalls. She resisted, but ultimately agreed to repeat one year to meet cultural expectations.
Elizabeth had always wanted to care for people, and nursing was a natural path. In the 1980s, working as a school nurse in Brent, she noticed Black parents often avoided parents’ evenings – fearing discrimination. She began visiting families at home, encouraging them to attend. The initiative worked so well that school nurses across Brent followed suit, creating a shift in parent-school engagement.
Over 54 years, Elizabeth balanced motherhood and a nursing career. Though she once aspired to teach midwifery, raising four children and navigating systemic barriers limited her options. Still, she’s proud of her impact – especially her home-visit campaign.
Elizabeth says life is easier now for her children and grandchildren. But her decades of service to the NHS speak volumes about her legacy.
Name: Neda Southgate, Country: Iraq
Neda Southgate (née Al Atar) was born in southern Iraq in 1963. One of 14 children, her father was a textile merchant. She was studying social sciences at Basrah University when Saddam Hussein began mass deportation of Shia Muslims, Neda’s family among them.
The family’s Iranian heritage meant their wealth and property were confiscated by the regime. Neda’s mother had no Iranian heritage and serious health issues, so was permitted to stay in Iraq, but was forced to leave their family home. Neda never saw her mother again.
After brief imprisonment, Neda escaped through the desert to Iran, joining relatives already in exile. After three years, they fled Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime to Syria. One of Neda’s brothers was gravely ill and was aided to the UK by the Red Cross; he, in turn, helped additional family members join him there as refugees.
In the UK, Neda first worked in architecture, then pivoted to fashion, studying at Central St Martins. After having two children, she opened a nursery, which she later closed due to illness. A period of reflection led her to humanitarian work – first at the Martlets Hospice, then with the Alzheimer’s Society.
Today, she runs her own business, Alzheimer’s with Compassion, and it is when she spoke about working with people with Alzheimer’s and dementia that she sat up and really came alive.
Name: Florent Charly Romain Bidois, Country: France
Florent Charly Romain Bidois was born in 1986, “just like Lady Gaga”. Raised near Rennes, France, by working-class parents who were both cleaners, he always felt different. “I am a Breton through and through, a sailor, a traveller – an adventurer. I am Indiana Jones. Rennes was too small, and France too judgemental.”
He came to London in 2011 for a pattern-cutting internship and immediately felt at home. Drawn by his love for the English language, he discovered a city where he could fully express himself. He now works in fashion retail and thrives in London’s vibrant, inclusive energy.
In 2022, Florent was contestant #12 at the 50th anniversary of Alternative Miss World. He didn’t win, but “won the heart of the people”. Each month, he leads the “Colour Walk” in Old Spitalfields Market – a celebration of creativity and self-expression through fashion.
Florent identifies as male but defies gender norms through style. He doesn’t tuck, pad or wear wigs. “I wear men’s shirts and bow ties, women’s dresses, heels and makeup. I become a creature – neither male nor female – an embodiment of my personality.”
Often mistaken for a drag queen, he insists he’ll only claim that title once he takes the stage – his next goal in this UK-enabled journey.
JJ Keith continues to look for first generation immigrants who have settled in the UK and are contributing or have contributed to the country culturally, socially, economically or who simply have a story to tell.
Knowledge grows when shared.
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Browse all articles from this issue
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How feminist urban design is shaping a fairer Glasgow
Open Britain
Portraits of migration, belonging and hope
What’s next for education?
Back to the drawing board
Stones, songs and secrets
Lithography, lore and the RSA’s secret history
Adarsh Ramchurn
On empowering new voices
And it’s goodnight from him
UK Pavilion shines at Osaka Expo
Mixing Matters
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Myths of merit in an unequal society
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Voice
It can be harder to stand up for yourself than for everyone else