To mark Jean-François Joly’s exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie and the publication of his book The Lands of Exile, we are introducing several books on the subject of the Roma.
Originating from the borders of India and Pakistan, Gypsies, Romany and Tziganes have criss-crossed the world for more than a thousand years. We call them, wrongly, tinkers, travellers, or even chicken thieves. Their name is Roma, members of a tribe that carried across Europe a thousand-year-old oral tradition completely different from the linear, sequential logic that writing imposed on the thinking of those who had always lived there. Their name often evokes images of mystery, danger, repulsion and disgust. They have been vilified, murdered and rejected, but they have tenaciously followed their traditions. Far from allowing themselves to be enclosed by frontiers, they continue to travel the world.
Each time a European country has serious economic or political problems, the Roma, the weakest and freest members of society, are the first to suffer the effects. The word “Rom” (man in Romani) marks out the Gypsies as being from the countries of the East. The recognition of its usage, in 1995, by legal provisions from the Council of Europe for the respect of national minorities was one of the first victories for a people whose identity has not ceased to be flouted. In 1993, Romania banned the use of the word Rom.
SELECTION BOOKS
Terres d’exil
Jean-François Joly
Filigranes Éditions, Trézélan (F), 2016.
Gitans
Josef Koudelka
Texts by Robert Delpire et Willy Guy
Delpire, Paris, 2011 (M 2011 KOU)
Tsiganes et Gitans
Hans Silvester
Text by Jean-Paul Clébert
Éditions de La Martinière, Paris, 2011
Les Gitans
Lucien Clergue
Texts by Jean Cocteau & Tony Gatlif
Marval, Paris, 1995
Zingari a Palermo – Herdelesi e Santa Rosalia
Gianni Berengo Gardin
Text by Nico Staiti
Peliti Associati, Rome, 1997
Mathieu Pernot
Mathieu Pernot
Text by Anna Malagrida
Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, 1997
Tsiganes 1995 – 1998
Mathieu Pernot
Texts by Mathieu Pernot, Christian Caujolle, Jean Louis Tornato, Anna Malagrida
Actes Sud, Arles, 1999
Tsiganes vagabondes des steppes
Lyalya Kouznetsova
Texts by Inge Morath, Lyalya Kouznetsova and Marina Rasbechkina
Éditions de La Martinière, Paris, 1998
Ciganos
Bruce Gilden
Texts by Pedro Carlos Bacelar De Vasconcelos and M. Tereza Siza
Centro Português de Fotografia, Porto, 1999
Hermanovce. Four seasons with Roma
Jarret Schecter
Texts by Francesca Sorrenti, Jaroslav Skupnik, Jarret Schecter
Trolley, Londres, 2003
Eva Davidova
Eva Davidova
Texts by Anna Farova et Jana Horvathova
Torst, Prague, 2004 (collection FotoTorst N° 17)
Another day of life in Romanipen
Johan Lundberg
Texts by Johan Lundberg et Olof Palme
Journal, Stockholm, 2005
The Roma Journeys
Joakim Eskildsen
Texts by Cia Rinne, Joakim Eskildsen, Günter Grass
Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, 2007
Blu
Cuny Janssen
Texts byFerdinando Brandi, Gabriele Conrath Scholl, Patricia Pulles
Snoeck Verlag, Cologne, 2015
Les Roms de Roumanie
Yves Leresche
Text by Blaise WILLA
Infolio, Gollion (CH), 2002
Roms, La quête infatigable du Paradis
Yves Leresche Infolio, Gollion (CH), 2015
