WWII was the time when thousands of Gypsy were subjected to tyranny and persecution paralleled only by that of Jewish. But unlike Jewish, they have suffered silently. It has turned out to be their fate to put the memories away and forget.
Despite the long time since WWII, this dark complexioned people are still subject to segregation in today’s societies.
In modern day Turkey, Gypsies are considered to be the “entertainers”, who are supposed to entertain the “other” people. Their talent in music and dancing has been taken for granted as their only purpose in life and the only way to see the least respect. Due to these presumptions, public’s take on Gypsies is largely through the inconsequential entertainment news.
Nonetheless their tales are far from just singing and dancing. I believe that these tales are to be told so as to help stand against prejudice and segregation.
I envision a first-hand account of their tales, in print and visual, not by just observing from a distance, but cracking into their private world, living and interacting with them on a daily basis.
I want to express that it is almost as if they paint over their pains a colorful life for it makes it easier to endure. Despite the hearts full of storms, their songs, dances, weddings, traditions are reminiscent of a big rainbow I all happily walk under but not necessarily notice.
I want to express all these visually, because I think I can read the poem on these warm, colorful people’s faces.
In this project, hundreds of Gypsy neighborhoods along the Aegean Coast (Western Turkey), which were established after migration and resettlement from Balkans during the early 20th century chaos, selected for study based on sociological, economical and political variance in their glocal alteration period. Even though Gypsies are nowadays better represented in the society thanks to the improvements due to Turkey’s EU ascension process, the study aims using a wide-front approach by taking into account the ongoing isolation of these people in their own country.
