We all have migrant DNA somewhere inside ourselves. Because, regardless of whether our eyes are blue or brown, we are all descended from migrants. The Denmark we know today was created and shaped by migrants who came here, while Danish migrants have set sail and put their stamp on the outside world.

But what is it like to live as a migrant, and to leave behind what is familiar in favour of something new? Are there similarities in the experiences migrants have had, which transcend time, place and culture? For example, would Turkish and Romanian migrants in today’s Denmark recognise any of the challenges, which Danish migrants faced in the United States more than 100 years ago?

The answer is yes. If we compare the Danish experience of emigrating to the United States, Argentina and Australia with the Turkish and Romanian experience of immigrating to Denmark, we find many common features. Naturally there are differences too.

In general, it is the dream of a better life that impels a migrant to leave his or her homeland. Such was the case all those years ago, when approximately 300,000 Danes sought happiness in America, and it is the same dream that is precipitating the current Romanian wave of migration. It is certainly no easy task to migrate. The migrant has to struggle with the likes of language, cultural differences and homesickness, and it is not always that the dream of a better life comes true.

On the basis of five thematic sections, the exhibition, Migrant sets out to explore what the act of migration has in common across time and place. We encounter the migrant and the migrant’s children and descendants, telling their stories through letters, recollections and interviews.