More international works made in answer to the Open Call for artists to respond to the Jubilee of the first World Congress
Bogumila Delimata
This artist works in Poland and Spain. She is a talented visual artist and flamenco dancer.
Jim Mellis
I was born in Portsmouth England to a Romanichial father and an Irish mother. I struggled at school because of my life, mindset and aims. We’re not as the other children..but art always interested me…my father would build carts and I would decorate them. I went to art college as a mature student and have been painting ever since. I now live in rural Ireland which is beautiful and inspiring.
“Because of the overwhelming negative press I was seeing, and.. coming from a Romanichal family, I experiencing prejudice first hand. I decided to help combat the general negative conceptions by painting bright, idealistic depictions of romany/gypsy life. I hope this positive view of our culture will change negative attitudes to a more open minded outlook towards GRT people”.
József Ferkovics
The artist is Hungarian. His works can be found in the Gallery of the Roma Parliament, the Ethnographic Museum, in the collection of the Hungarian Cultural Institute and at private collectors.
Mersud Selman
“One of the main goals of the Romany Congress is to strengthen civil rights and equality of the Roma in different countries and societies. As important as this concern is, we also have to deal with equality and mutual acceptance. For this reason, last year I decided on the “DO NOT SPIT IN MY FACE” project that I could start with the help of ERIAC. In this project I want to make LGBTQ people more visible in the Roma community through my art. The large-format portraits call for a discussion of a specific personality and show that the generally prevailing stereotypes do not do justice to people. The portraits direct the viewer’s gaze through the veil of prejudice to the true face of people and at the same time form a new imagination that can be transferred to dealing with LGBTQ and is characterised by respect.
Robert Czibi
I am a visual artist of Roma heritage who migrated from Hungary to London in 2010 and contributed to the capital’s art scene from the outset. I started painting in the early 90s, as a member of the Open Studio Art Foundation of Városliget in Budapest. In 2004, I travelled to Greece and Cyprus, and worked in Athens and Crete before returning to Central Europe for my first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Budapest. Alongside oil, pastel chalk and watercolour my current interests include image transfer and collage techniques. My Romani heritage has an impact on my choice of themes, it guides my exploration across real life and artistic expression and allows for new qualities to appear in my creative output and everyday life.
The three artworks entitled Transfers, which alludes not only to the technique applied (image transfer) but also the repositioning of patters and artefacts from traditional Roma culture into contexts which lie beyond what is usually understood by, and expected of, Roma art. This is an exploration of the borrowability of elements of culture across real-life and artistic contexts, images, and media.