in Kraków, Mirga took a number of black-and-white photographs which documented the life of the Romani communities from Czarna Góra and other villages and small towns from the southern part of Lesser Poland. This photographic reportage is a unique, priceless and highly interesting record from the visual archive of the past and served as a direct source of inspiration to two contemporary Romani artists.
During her artistic residency at Czarna Góra in 2016, the Romani-British artist Delaine Le Bas repeated, in a sense, the gesture of Andrzej Mirga; the same photographs become a major source of inspiration for Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, who, like the photographer/ethnographer, was also born in Czarna Góra. The exhibition is completed by drawings on paper of Krzysztof Gil, a Podhale-based Polish-Romani artist, who rewrites the canons of European portraiture.
From History of Roma to Roma History
On February 2, 2018 the international expert conference “The Future of Roma History: Remembrance, Historical Justice and the Role of Roma Youth” took place at the Galicia Jewish Museum, located in the heart of the Jewish District in Cracow. The conference was opened by a short speech by Mrs. Krystyna Gil, Roma genocide survivor, and a keynote speech by Dr. Ismael Cortés, post-doc CEU RSP Fellow & UNESCO Chair of Philosophy, “Roma Orality and Literacy: The Youth Struggle for Memory, Education and Culture”.
Three thematic panels followed.
The first panel, “Commemorating Roma History – Practices and Achievements” covered the efforts and achievements aimed at promoting the recognition of the Roma Holocaust as an integral chapter of European history. It aimed to inquire into practices of commemoration, institutional support and, most importantly, the role of Roma activists and organizations in seeking historical justice. Speakers included Mr. Emran Elmazi, from the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti; Dr. Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, Auschwitz Museum and Jagiellonian University in Kraków; Dr. Piotr Trojański, IHRA “Killing Sites” Project and Pedagogical University in Kraków; Adam Bartosz, curator of the Regional Museum in Tarnow and initiator of “International Romani Caravan of Memory”; and Ionel Cordovan and Noemi Cordovan, Romani language teachers and collaborators with Romanian Ministry of Education.
The second panel, “Unravelling the Blind Spots in Roma History” aimed to cover the current state of knowledge with regards to history of Roma communities in Europe, examining existing scholarship and unravelling the blind spots in Roma history. It also gave participants an opportunity to discuss the future research agenda and the importance of knowledge production in shaping historical narratives on Roma. The session did not only focus on the history of the Roma Holocaust, but also explored local and national histories and reflect on the importance of knowledge in