Challenging dominant representations of LGBTIQ Roma in public spaces through queer research-informed interventions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Portsmouth
Department Name: Sch of Health and Care Professions
Abstract
Romanticising or vilifying stereotypical representations of Roma often imposed by non-Roma have been instrumental in generating and maintaining negative perceptions of Roma. Roma, sometimes also referred to as 'Gypsies' or 'Travellers', are subsequently often seen as a risk to societal and national security (Van Baar 2015). Even in Romani Studies, the academic area of study, Roma have often been essentialised as 'eternal Gypsy nomads' that does not reflect their lived realities (Tremlett 2009, Willems 1997). Focusing on romanticised or villified notions of a shared identity has led to Roma being conflated with a stigmatised group identity (Tremlett and McGarry 2013). This collective conception of ethnic identity has led to all members of an assumed 'group' being reduced to possessing the same set of assumed characteristics and values.
In the political landscape, neoliberal nation states have over-visibilised and used Roma to generate solidarity, belonging and identity among non-Roma (McGarry 2017); yet, at the same time, actual Roma lives remain 'hard to see' (Stewart 2010) or 'invisible' (Okely 2010). With this backdrop, LGBTIQ Roma have barely existed in this research, leading to the needs of Roma remaining largely invisible to governments, institutions and service providers (Fremlova 2017). The candidate's doctoral research (2017), which addressed this empirical gap, found that LGBTIQ Roma experience many types of discrimination and multiple objectification from non-Roma and Roma. LGBTIQ Roma are associated with stigmatising conceptions of ethnicity/race, sexuality and gender identity, and their voices, their narratives and life experiences, are barely registered in public discourses. Simultaneously, being heard and visibility is key to acceptance and belonging (Fremlova 2017). This indicates that there is tension between the (in)visibilities and representations of Roma. According to Tremlett (2014), accurate understanding of Roma requires a conscious effort made by non-Roma to transcend historically constructed stereotypes about Roma whilst addressing the history of oppression that has resulted in a distorted imagery portraying Roma. Research needs to attend closely to the self-representations - narratives and self-made images - of Roma people themselves (Tremlett 2017).
The question 'How can we challenge dominant representations of LGBTIQ Roma in public spaces through queer creative and discursive research-informed interventions?' will guide the proposed investigation into questioning stereotypical representations of LGBTIQ Roma through analysing existing and new photos of LGBTIQ Roma. In answer to Tremlett's (2014c, 2017) call, this project will unpack the conceptual interplay of (in)visibilities, self-representations, the everyday/ordinary, acceptance and belonging. This will be done with a view to maximising the impact of the findings of the candidate's PhD by re-engaging with some of the research participants from her PhD and engaging with new ones in a top-up research exploring the potential of visual self-representations to contextualise, critique and challenge the dominant representational canons through queer (non-normative) creative and discursive interventions.
The candidate will be benefit from the supervisions and mentoring from two experts: Dr Annabel Tremlett (Main mentor; Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth) is an expert on art-based research (2014a, 2014b), representations of Roma in the media and the everyday ordinariness of Romani people's lives (2017). Dr Olu Jenzen's (Second mentor; Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton) research expertise lies in the area of LGBTQ digital activism and culture, the aesthetics of protest, politics of aesthetic form, and the representation of gender and sexuality in film, literature and popular culture. As a researcher with experience in creative participatory methods Dr Jenzen will also be able to support the project methodologically.
In the political landscape, neoliberal nation states have over-visibilised and used Roma to generate solidarity, belonging and identity among non-Roma (McGarry 2017); yet, at the same time, actual Roma lives remain 'hard to see' (Stewart 2010) or 'invisible' (Okely 2010). With this backdrop, LGBTIQ Roma have barely existed in this research, leading to the needs of Roma remaining largely invisible to governments, institutions and service providers (Fremlova 2017). The candidate's doctoral research (2017), which addressed this empirical gap, found that LGBTIQ Roma experience many types of discrimination and multiple objectification from non-Roma and Roma. LGBTIQ Roma are associated with stigmatising conceptions of ethnicity/race, sexuality and gender identity, and their voices, their narratives and life experiences, are barely registered in public discourses. Simultaneously, being heard and visibility is key to acceptance and belonging (Fremlova 2017). This indicates that there is tension between the (in)visibilities and representations of Roma. According to Tremlett (2014), accurate understanding of Roma requires a conscious effort made by non-Roma to transcend historically constructed stereotypes about Roma whilst addressing the history of oppression that has resulted in a distorted imagery portraying Roma. Research needs to attend closely to the self-representations - narratives and self-made images - of Roma people themselves (Tremlett 2017).
The question 'How can we challenge dominant representations of LGBTIQ Roma in public spaces through queer creative and discursive research-informed interventions?' will guide the proposed investigation into questioning stereotypical representations of LGBTIQ Roma through analysing existing and new photos of LGBTIQ Roma. In answer to Tremlett's (2014c, 2017) call, this project will unpack the conceptual interplay of (in)visibilities, self-representations, the everyday/ordinary, acceptance and belonging. This will be done with a view to maximising the impact of the findings of the candidate's PhD by re-engaging with some of the research participants from her PhD and engaging with new ones in a top-up research exploring the potential of visual self-representations to contextualise, critique and challenge the dominant representational canons through queer (non-normative) creative and discursive interventions.
The candidate will be benefit from the supervisions and mentoring from two experts: Dr Annabel Tremlett (Main mentor; Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth) is an expert on art-based research (2014a, 2014b), representations of Roma in the media and the everyday ordinariness of Romani people's lives (2017). Dr Olu Jenzen's (Second mentor; Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton) research expertise lies in the area of LGBTQ digital activism and culture, the aesthetics of protest, politics of aesthetic form, and the representation of gender and sexuality in film, literature and popular culture. As a researcher with experience in creative participatory methods Dr Jenzen will also be able to support the project methodologically.
People |
ORCID iD |
Publications
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2022)
Challenging Misrepresentations of Roma Through Queer Romani Visual Self-Representations
in Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2020)
LGBTIQ Roma and queer intersectionalities: the lived experiences of LGBTIQ Roma
in European Journal of Politics and Gender
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
Fremlova L
(2021)
Queer Roma
| Title | The exhibition 'Visualising the Lives of LGBTIQ Roma' |
| Description | The exhibition 'Visualising the Lives of LGBTIQ People' consists of 16 visual self-representations (i.e. photographs featuring the LGBTIQ Roma research participants) and covers the following themes: Past 'myth' v. present 'reality; Escaping self-representation; Everyday life; Playing with flags; Queer Fortune Teller; Lost in the Future. Two videos with two of the LGBTIQ Roma research participants (https://qrtv.eu/en/the-coming-out-story-of-antonella/#; https://qrtv.eu/en/the-coming-out-story-of-roland-korponovics/) |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | The exhibition Visualising the Lives of LGBTIQ Roma was officially launched at the Aspex Gallery/University of Portsmouth on 7 and 8 November 2019. The impact was enhanced by additional funding which I obtained from ESRC as part of the Festival of Social Sciences. As part of the Festival on 7 November 2019 , an exhibition workshop and the official launch took place. These events attracted approximately 25-30 people. On 8 November, a concluding symposium took place, bringing together a range of stakeholders, including ethnicity/sexuality and gender/visual culture scholars, university students, Roma/Gypsy community members and representatives of law enforcement agencies and the third sector. I presented a taster of the exhibition at the Annual ILGA-Europe conference in Prague on 26 October, 2019; at the Queer History in the Czech lands conference on 29 November 2019. Following the Portsmouth launch, I displayed and presented the exhibition at Brighton Museum on 26 January 2020 as part of the LGBT History Club; at a roundtable discussion event on LGBTIQ Roma at the Central European University, 6 February 2020. The exhibition will have an international launch and there will be an exhibition workshop/presentation as part of the 20th Pride in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in June 2020; and at the first rural pride in Hungary, Pecs, in June 2020. I am currently negotiating with the organisers about the possibility of having the research participants launch and present the exhibition at both events. The organisers are currently raising funds to make this possible. Two of the research participants have created an online exhibition/ virtual gallery. |
| URL | https://qrstock.qrtv.eu |
| Description | Historically, Roma, who are referred to as Romany Gypsies in the UK, have been either romanticised or vilified. Roma have been the subject of a plethora of anti-Romani stereotypes, racist tropes and social, as well as visual misrepresentations. Contrary to this, the lived experiences and images of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) Roma challenge and defy many of these stereotypes and clichés (Fremlova 2017, 2019). However, the experiences and images of LGBTIQ Roma remain invisible to many people, Roma and non-Roma alike. The collaborative, participatory postdoctoral project sought to explore ways in which visual self-representations contextualise, critique and challenge dominant representations that lie at the root of antigypsyism, homophobia, lesbophobia and transphobia. The photographic self-representations produced by LGBTIQ Roma visual activists and artists during the project not only offer an insight into the lives of LGBTIQ Roma; they also seeks to demonstrate to various audiences ways in which LGBTIQ Roma wish to be represented. The following typology applies to the visual self-representations and the ways in which they challenge and defy stereotypes: Type 1. Direct challenge through self-representation Stereotypes, misrepresentations and visual tropes are juxtaposed with something different, not necessarily the opposite. Thus, we are able to see the difference between a romanticised past, which has become a 'myth' or an 'archetype' (e.g. the Gypsy fortune-teller; the Gypsy trailer, where a non-Roma's future is read), and an LGBTIQ Roma person's lived experience (e.g. a gay Roma man's lived experience in the present). These challenges can be posed also contextually, by making cultural or social references through clothing, flags and other symbols. Within social normativities, clothing gets co-opted into heteronormative definitions of 'genuine' Romaniness, and thus any 'transgression' is seen as un-Romani. Clothing thus becomes a powerful public, political statement. This refusal to comply with the norm - either sexual/gender or ethnic/racial - integral to these photos is a key tenet of 'queerness' and queer theorising. Type 2. A queer take on 'normalisation'/assimilation: Utilising the strategic aspect of 'stock photos' as a genre based on stereotypes and social norms, impressions and/or imitations of 'normality' may be achieved by means of the photograph (e.g. a happy household; happy couple on the beach). Simultaneously, a 'queer twist' is introduced by revealing to the viewer contextually or by means of captions that the people portrayed in these 'normative-looking' photographs are a gay or cis/trans Roma couple. Using insight from Gonzalez-Torres (in Katz, 2015) who spoke of his queer positionality as an HIV positive gay man, the queer Romani bearer of such strategic 'normalisation', or sameness (Fremlova 2017) resisting norms and binaries, may be regarded as strategically deploying sameness to infiltrate normativities from within in order to overwhelm and shatter social orthodoxies. Type 3. 'Pure' self-representation and its limits Self-representations may be used as an efficient means of challenging harmful stereotypes; but they do not have to. Visual self-representations that do not serve a purpose other that self-representation are an example of 'pure' self-representations. Strategically, in their design, they do not aspire to challenge stereotypical representations of Roma. Even 'pure' self-representations have their limits though. As self-representations, they are the visual representation of a particular person and do not represent or define the LGBTIQ Roma 'community'; or indeed, the LGBTIQ Roma identity. This queer, non-identitarian approach thus challenges the frequent assumption that when members of non-dominant groups such as ethnic/racial, sexual and gender identity minorities are represented, they must represent each and every member of that community (i.e. that they have to be 'everything for everyone'). |
| Exploitation Route | ILGA-Europe: At the end of October, I presented the research findings at the largest non-academic LGBTIQ conference in Europe, the annual ILGA-Europe conference which brought together 600 participants. Since then, I have been discussing with ILGA-Europe how the research findings will feed into their envisaged work on antigypsyism. Brighton Museum: As part of outreach, I introduced the renowned UK-based Romany Gypsy visual artist Delaine Le Bas to E-J Scott, the curator of Queer the Pier. This has led to the organisation of a workshop on LGBTIQ Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in July at Brighton museum. Two of the exhibition photos creatively challenging the Museum's historic 'Gipsy' fortune-telling machine, generated as part of the research project, have become part of Brighton Museum's Queer the Pier exhibition, opening on 23 February 2020, funded by Brighton and Hove (Be Bold). On 6 February 2020, I participated in a roundtable discussion about LGBTIQ Roma at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. As part of the event, I showed the exhibition, which received very positive feedback from CEU staff and students. Ljubljana Pride and Pecs Pride: The photographic exhibition and the research findings have been requested for the upcoming 2020 Ljubljana PRIDE festival and the first rural pride in Hungary, Pecs. I am currently negotiating with the organisers. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://qrstock.qrtv.eu |
| Description | The findings were presented at a series of final dissemination events (exhibition launch, exhibition workshop, exhibition symposium at the Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth on 7 and 8 November 2019) targeting a number of different audiences including undergraduate and postgraduate students; academia; other university staff; law enforcement and government agencies; third sector organisations. Some of the participants in the exhibition workshop reported increased awareness (many of them had not heard of or seen LGBTIQ Roma) and changes in personal attitudes to Roma and Romany Gypsies. ILGA-Europe: At the end of October 2019, I presented the research findings at the largest non-academic LGBTIQ conference in Europe, the annual ILGA-Europe conference which brought together 600 participants. Since then, I have been discussing with ILGA-Europe how the research findings will feed into their envisaged work on antigypsyism. Brighton Museum: As part of outreach, I introduced the renowned UK-based Romany Gypsy visual artist Delaine Le Bas to E-J Scott, the curator of Queer the Pier. This has led to the organisation of a workshop on LGBTIQ Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in July at Brighton museum. Two of the exhibition photos creatively challenging the Museum's historic 'Gypsy' fortune-telling machine, generated as part of the research project, have become part of Brighton Museum's Queer the Pier exhibition, opening on 23 February 2020, funded by Brighton and Hove (Be Bold). I gave a talk and presented the findings, as well as the photographic exhibition at the Museum on 26 January 2020 as part of the LGBT History Club (a partnership between Brighton Museum and Queer in Brighton). The event was sold out (the talk was attended by over 60 people): in the Q&A session, many of the participants said this was the first time they had heard of or seen LGBTIQ Roma and reported increased awareness of the specific issues experiences by LGBTIQ Roma and/or changes in personal attitudes to Roma/Romany Gypsies (some of the participants thought that Roma/Romany Gypsies were homophobic and did not accept LGBTIQ people in their families and communities. They were really surprised to hear some of the stories of acceptance that I presented.) On 6 February 2020, I participated in a roundtable discussion about LGBTIQ Roma at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. As part of the event, I showed the exhibition, which received very positive feedback from CEU staff and students. Ljubljana Pride (Slovenia), Pecs Pride (Hungary) and White Spaces/BiLa Mista (Czech Republic) 2020: The photographic exhibition and the research findings were presented at the 2020 Ljubljana PRIDE, Pecs Pride festival and the White Spaces exhibition of Czech and Slovak Roma and pro-Roma artists. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Impact on research practice at the Universities of Portsmouth, Brighton and Loughborough |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Input regarding antigypsyism for ILGA-Europe |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Title | Using creative visual methods in participatory social science research |
| Description | Informed by ethnography, Participatory Action Research (PAR) and employing visual methodologies fostering knowledge co-production and transformative action, the aim of this qualitative research was to enhance the impact of my doctoral research on the lived experiences of LGBTIQ Roma (Fremlova 2017) by producing visual self-representations of LGBTIQ Roma. Acknowledging the underlying asymmetrical power relations in society, the research project used visual methods, including photo elicitation (Harper 2002, Rose 2016) as a means to engage with groups and communities described as marginalized or oppressed (Johnson and Guzman 2012, Jenzen 2017), including LGBTIQ Roma, and to 'put more of the power into the hands of the researched' (Tremlett 2017, 7 referring to Clark-Ibáñez 2007, 1513; Harper 2012, 155-157); and methodologies related to 'visualising the everyday', including through 'viewing photography as an anti-essentialist opportunity to "counter fixed and stereotypical views" of Roma' (Tremlett 2017, 5). The question 'How do visual self-representations and through queer research-informed interventions challenge dominant representations of LGBTIQ Roma in public spaces?' guided the investigation into questioning stereotypical representations of LGBTIQ Roma through analysing existing and newly created photos of LGBTIQ Roma. This project aimed to unpack the conceptual interplay of (in)visibilities, self-representations, the everyday/ordinary, acceptance and belonging. To this end, the research re-engaged some of the research participants from my doctoral research and engaged new ones, with a view to exploring the potential of visual self-representations to contextualise, critique and challenge the dominant representational canons of portraying LGBTIQ Roma through queer (non-normative) creative and discursive interventions. The research involved eight LGBTIQ Romani participants from the UK, Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary who are visual activists and/or artists aged between 18 and 50. I recruited them through my existing contacts with LGBTIQ Roma, with whom I had cooperated for over six years as an ally-identified, non-Romani, queer researcher doing research with LGBTIQ Roma (Fremlova, 2018). The participants came from well-situated, more privileged backgrounds, spoke multiple languages, had access to the Internet and were able to travel abroad. This is an important aspect of their intersectional positioning within society in terms of class, as well as an important limitation that needs to be acknowledged. The visual data, consisting of photographic self-representations and videos, were generated at a 1.5 day visual methods workshop (March 2019) and a week-long visual methods workshop in Brighton (September 2019). I organised the creative methods workshops with a view to bringing research participants together to generate and refine visual self-representations of LGBTIQ Roma. I observed the workshops and took notes. The first visual methods workshop brought together eight participants: one non-Romani trans man, one Romani Gypsy queer woman; one Romani lesbian woman; and five Romani gay men. At the workshop, I lead and facilitated a discussion relating to analysing photographs from several viewpoints, including genre; the target audience; composition (focusing on how Roma are routinely portrayed in photographs in terms of their positioning, being portrayed as passive 'objects' in very specific, often poor settings; the assumed positioning of the spectator); what the photo actually portrays (denotation) and what it may allude to (connotation). We also discussed Barthes' (1980) concepts of 'studium' and 'punctum', the former referring to what captures the spectator's attention based on their interpretation of the photographs, and the latter referring to what are the details that stay with the spectator by catching their eye and jogging their memory. Awareness of these important aspects ended up guiding to a certain extent the process of creating photographic self-representations during the first and second workshop. A set of photographs was generated at the workshop, challenging an iconic photo of Roma (Koudelka 1968) that many of the participants considered stereotypical. The first theme, 'The Present versus the Past' and 'Myth versus Lived experience/reality', started to emerge. The participants also stated specifically that they wanted to tackle issues related to their experiences of antigypsyism, lesbophobia, homophobia and transphobia, possibly through the visual trope of the Romani fortune teller who would recast their experiences of intersectional oppression and offer alternative, 'queer' readings of their future. Following the first workshop, two of the Romani LGBTIQ visual activists and artists worked conceptually on one of the 'Present v. the Past' photos, refining it, as well as using contemporary visual techniques such as photoshopping. This process enabled us to explore during the photo elicitation interviews how the meaning of the photograph changes when certain elements are removed (i.e. the Koudelka photo) and new ones are introduced, such as a romanticising background. The textual data were generated between May and July 2019 through four in-depth semi-structured photo elicitation interviews with key informants (one Romani lesbian woman and three Romani gay men); a focus group with two Romani gay men; and final dissemination events: an exhibition workshop and an academic symposium in Portsmouth (November 2019). The second workshop lasted a week and brought together three LGBTIQ Roma visual activists and artists. This enabled the participants to work in a much more concentrated manner, as well as to speak to issues experienced by trans Romani women whilst showcasing the diversity among the different national subgroups of Roma and Romany Gypsies in terms of sexualities and gender identities. In the course of the second workshop, the participants produced a video and over 200 photos: nudes with the rainbow and Roma flags; portrayal photos with text projected onto the participants' skin; photographs of everyday life; and visual interventions in front of the Gypsy trailer and the Gypsy fortune telling machine. Of those, the participants first selected 30 most meaningful and visually well-executed photos. Approximately three weeks after the workshop, the participants finalised the selection of 15 photographs for the exhibition entitled Visualising the Lives of LGBTIQ Roma. When analysing the textual data from the transcripts of the four photo elicitation interviews, the focus group and my notes from observation during the two workshops, the exhibition workshop and the symposium, thematic analysis (Braun and Clark, 2006: 13) at a latent level was applied. Latent thematic analysis looks beyond individual themes by examining the underlying ideas and assumptions. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | In the course of the photo elicitation interviews, and during the visual methods and methodologies workshops, a key reason why the research participants were interested in producing visual self-representations was to tell a story about themselves. A story that has not been told before; a story that can be told visually, verbally or figuratively, where the research participants have full control over the process of narration and creating their self-representations. |
| URL | https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk |
| Title | Visualising the lives of LGBTIQ Roma |
| Description | The lived experiences of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) Roma, sometimes referred to as Romany Gypsies, remain invisible to most people, who are not aware that LGBTIQ Roma exist. The visual and textual data provide a unique opportunity for lay as well as expert audiences, including social science researchers, to gain insight into the lived experiences of LGBTIQ Roma, thus increasing the visibility of LGBTIQ Roma within research. These self-representations pose a direct challenge to the tropes, dominant representations, stereotypes and misconceptions that exist in the popular imagination, including in some research, about both Roma and LGBTIQ people. Making the data available through the UK Data Service (ReShare) will benefit social science researchers (registered users) who are interested in non-essentialist, critical understandings of identities and identifications; and in conducting rigorous and ethical qualitative research informed by ethnography, critical race theory, queer theorising, Participatory Action Research (PAR) and creative visual methods and methodologies fostering knowledge co-production. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Within Romani Studies, there is a lack of creative research methods and methodologies emphasising the importance of knowledge co-production, critical approaches and participatory action research (PAR) in doing research with, for and on Roma, including LGBTIQ Roma. It is hoped that making this datasets and metadata available will benefit other social science researchers interested in conducting rigorous and ethical qualitative research informed by ethnography, critical race theory, queer theorising, Participatory Action Research (PAR) and creative visual methods and methodologies fostering knowledge co-production. |
| URL | https://ukdataservice.ac.uk |
| Description | Collaboration with Brighton Museum for its upcoming exhibition Queer The Pier |
| Organisation | Brighton Museum and Art Gallery |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | A number of the photographic self-representations produced by the LGBTIQ Roma visual activists and artists as part of the project have become part of the upcoming exhibition Queer the Pier (official launch on 23 February 2020) and their special Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) LGBTIQ 'zine'. I gave a talk and presented the findings, as well as the photographic exhibition at the Museum on 26 January 2020 as part of the LGBT History Club (a partnership between Brighton Museum and Queer in Brighton). Background: The project 'Queer the Pier' (based in Brighton, funded by Brighton and Hove's Be Bold funding) aims to recognise the role of LGBT people in creating and sustaining the entertainment of the pier. It was noticed earlier in the year that the project 'Queer the Pier' did not include anything about Gypsies/Roma, though historically, Roma have played a big part in providing entertainment on the pier and as customers. I brought the curator E-J Scott and the renowned UK artist Delaine Le Bas, who is from a Romany Gypsy background, together at the first research workshop which I organised in March 2019. I also organised a follow up meeting between them where we discussed the creation of an artefact on Roma history for the 'Queer on the Pier' exhibition. This involves the fortune-telling machine located on the Pier, which features a stereotypical 'Gypsy' character ('Zoltar'), for which the research participants specifically created a series of visual self-representations. Delaine Le Bas has created some narratives and artwork, so when people receive their 'fortune telling cards' on a piece of paper, it will actually reveal some of the history and experiences of Gypsy/Roma people themselves and using the Gypsy/Roma language, as well as Pelari, which contains some words from Romanes: the Romani language. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Thanks to Brighton Museum curators responsible for 'Queer the Pier', a number of the photographic self-representations produced by the LGBTIQ Roma visual activists and artists as part of the project are now on display for the general public to see for the next three years. |
| Impact | Please see above. The cooperation is multi-disciplinary, bringing social science and art together. The inclusion of LGBTIQ Roma/Gypsies in the exhibition also potentially has specific implications for policy and public services. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Exhibition launch, workshop and symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Apart from the originally planned dissemination symposium, I organised extra two public events (an exhibition workshop and an exhibition opening at the Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth) as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. These events attracted approximately 25-30 people. Some of the photos generated as part of the project have become part of Brighton Museum's Queer the Pier exhibition and their LGBTIQ Gypsy Roma and Traveller 'Zine' (February 2020), funded by Brighton and Hove (Be Bold). I presented the project and gave a talk about the lived experiences and images of LGBTIQ Roma at the Museum on 26 January 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/roma-lgbtiq-community-in-spotlight-for-first-time |