Back in 2018, I had an exhibition of my work with the Roma community in Athens. I went many times to one particular community with a group of human rights workers. I was invited along to photograph and document the difficulties they faced but it became a tribute to the people I met there. I returned with prints for the people featured. It was the least I could do.
Click on any image to enlarge.
Shot on a Pentax Optio A10
The Text of the Exhibition
It was the children who compelled me to take these pictures.
They were curious and excited. They were playing games that you see all children playing. Chasing and mock fighting. Giggling and pointing at this odd woman who looked so out of place here. Several called out hello. Many just came up and stood listening. Probably wondering what the hell was I was doing there.
And I wondered myself.
What was I doing observing their degrading living conditions? Unable to comprehend how we can allow children to grow up here but unable to help in any way at all.
Another useless onlooker
One image stands out in my mind.
One that I did not take.
Everywhere I looked in this squalid, miserable place were hanging spotlessly clean, freshly washed clothes in all the brightest colours you could imagine. They were hanging from washing lines stretched between shacks. They were laid out along the walls at the edges of the camp. Every hanging space was used to dry hundreds of items of clothing.
To me, it was a symbol of the survival instinct of this forgotten community
This is the community that has smiled and frowned their way into my heart.
