Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush

At Rivington Place, a group exhibition by photographers and lens-based artists examines the condition of Roma people in Europe and its surroundings.

In London's Rivington Place, the new exhibition Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush, co-curated by Gabi Scardi, Christine Eyene and Autograph ABP director Mark Sealy, examines the condition of Roma people in Europe and its surroundings.

With a population of 10 to 12 million in the EU, the Roma are the oldest and largest European ethnic minority. Amnesty International reports that Roma people are "existing predominantly on the margins of society [and] are among the most deprived communities in Europe". Amnesty also states that the "Roma suffer massive discrimination and are denied their rights to housing, employment, health care and education. Roma communities are often subject to forced evictions, racist attacks and police ill-treatment." This project challenges many preconceived ideas about the Roma by displaying both their diversity and what is intrinsic to their cultures.

Photographers and lens-based artists on display include Cristiano Berti, Elisabeth Blanchet, Danica Dakic, Nigel Dickinson, Alfredo Jaar, Sitki Kosemen, Maria Papadimitriou, Alessandro Quaranta, William Ropp and Santiago Sierra. Also on show are rare prints by Josef Koudelka who has produced the most celebrated body of work on Roma life and culture in the history of photography. The exhibition will also premiere two newly commissioned pieces by the experimental film duo Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi.

Top: Danica Dakic, La Grand Galerie 1, 2004. Above: Nigel Dickinson, David, his brother and brother in law, at the dinner table for Orthodox Catholic Christmas meal, Belgrade, Serbia. 7 January 2004

Through its political engagement, Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush critically questions the forms of discrimination that have affected the Roma people for centuries across Europe. It contributes to debates on the nature of minorities and the ideology of marginalisation, while examining the concept of freedom within the wider context of current European political borders.

25 May – 28 July 2012
Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush
Rivington Place
London

Elisabeth Blanchet, Dino, Romany Gypsy Traveller, North Wales 2012
Sitki Kosemen, Boy Riding. From the series Edirne - Roma Kakava Festivities, 2011
Alfredo Jaar, Du Voyage, Des Gens, 2011. Still from film with sound, 3’ 23’’. Courtesy of Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris