In 2003, with a Romani-English dictionary in hand, Johan Lundberg set out to the Balkan peninsula with the assignment to photograph the lives of the Roma, the people popularly known as gypsies – one of Europe’s most deprived minority groups. For two years he lived and travelled throughout the Balkans, wandering from one Roma community to another. These photographs, now his memories, are what he saw.
“My hope is that what you see in my photos, more than anything, is people: your sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. And of course, yourself – it could very well have been you. And you had not liked the way the majority population treats you. You had not been impressed by how "your country" does not stand up for you. You would have been extremely disappointed that your work opportunities are so limited. You had been puzzled by why human rights and freedoms are not also apply to you.”
The images are photographed in Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.
65 b/w images • Text by Johan Lundberg • Quotes by Olof Palme • Translation to Romani: Baki Hasan, to English: Johan Lundberg • Editor: Gösta Flemming • Design and layout: Johan Lundberg, Gösta Flemming • Published in co-operation with the Olof Palme International Center • Hard cover • 280 x 240 mm • 152 pages • two gatefold spreads • English/Romani/Swedish • 2005
Selected for Hasselblad Center’s exhibition Published – Photo Books in Sweden, Gothenburg Museum of Art 2018.
