Mondes tsiganes: une histoire photographique, 1860-1980

Abstract

This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition presented at the Museum of the History of Immigration, Paris, from March 13 to August 26, 2018. It questions the meeting of photography with the Gypsy worlds. The fabric of stereotypes and an iconic subject shows the central role of the medium in the construction of an identity presented as different and foreign. Behind the visual exposition of this dreamlike singularity and the reverberation of clichés, other stories appear. Guided by the archives and the discovery of unpublished collections, the thread of the images composes stories in the singular. Beyond the designations, from the Gypsies to the Roma and the Travelers, the families go through the framework of the images that have forever locked them in supposed truths. Subject to boundless fascination, the destiny of people tells another social and historical presence revealed by photography.