Unprecedented Marseille expo turns spotlight on Roma culture
At the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem) in the southern French city Marseille, an exhibition of unprecedented scope traces the contributions of the Roma community to political and artistic history.
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The show Barvalo, whose title means "spiritually or materially rich" in the Romani language, is the first exhibition to draw together contributions from multiple artists and curators within Europe's Roma minority of 12 million.
US anthropologist Jonah Steinberg spent years lobbying to hold the exhibition.
"It's one of the first times that Roma history, art and culture has been presented on such a scale," said Steinberg, an associate professor at the University of Vermont.
"But most of all, it's unique because it is driven by Roma community voice, vision, experts, advisors, artists and guides."
Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, deputy head of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (Eriac), was one of 19 people who helped organise the exhibition.
"For once, in this way, we could shape the narrative about us," she said.
Centuries of discrimination
Romani artist Emanuel Barica sketched the black-and-white portraits of famous Romani people that line the museum wall.
"Perhaps people who are racist – who discriminate – really like Charlie Chaplin and didn't realise he was Romani," said the 28-year-old, who was bullied at school in Romania before moving to Germany.
"Perhaps they'll change their point of view."
Romani-Romanian academic Cristian Padure said the show was "recognition" of the community's contributions to European culture and history after centuries of discrimination.
"It's very moving," he said.
In Romania, where the linguist grew up, Roma were slaves for 500 years until the 19th century.
Among the show's exhibits is an advertisement drawn from the country's archives that offers "a young gypsy" for sale for 29 coins.
Holocaust victims, Resistance fighters
On another wall are so-called "anthropometric cards" of Roma living in France in the early 20th century, complete with head measurements, mugshots and fingerprints.
All French Roma – a term that includes a number of groups including Sinti, Manouches, Gitans and Travellers – were required to carry the identity documents, which were designed to limit their movement and paved the way for their deportation during World War II.
The Nazis and their allies killed up to 500,000 Roma during that period, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The exhibition highlights the work of late Romani-Austrian writer and artist Ceija Stojka, who wrote about and painted the horrific ordeal after surviving three separate death camps.
It also shines a light on Romani members of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation.
"We too had forefathers who fought in all the wars," said Sylvie Debart, whose French Sinti grandfather Marius Janel was part of the underground army fighting the Germans.
But "travellers sadly are only ever in the news when they stop their caravan somewhere", she said.
(with AFP)
► Barvalo runs from 10 May to 4 September 2023 at the Mucem museum in Marseille.
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