Description

Åke Ericson – Non Grata
Publisher: GOST Books, 2018
Hardcover, 140 pages, English
Size: 30.5x23cm
New in seal

Since 2009, Swedish photographer Åke Ericson has been documenting the everyday lives of Roma people across Europe. The resulting photographs create an honest portrait of a community ‘Non Grata’. Latin for ‘undesirable’ or ‘not welcome’ Ericson’s title suggests the discrimination many Roma face in daily life due to their last name or complexion.

These photographs will be published for the first time in this new book, Non Grata, to coincide with an exhibition of the project at Atelier für Photographie, Berlin from 26 April – 24 May 2018 and at La Moulinette Gallery, Paris from 20 September – 7 October 2018.

The Romani people have held a long fascination to photographers, and countless series of work have been produced on the estimated 10-12 million Roma population of Europe. Ericson’s project differs from the many through its scope, duration, and ambition. So far, Ericson has documented the lives and struggles of the Roma people in France, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, and Switzerland – twice the number of countries included in Josef Koudelka’s landmark photographic essay on the Roma 50 years ago.

Non Grata journeys from settlements such as Lunix IX outside Kosice in Eastern Slovakia to areas of Spain where Romani children attend regular school and can climb the socio-economic ladder, and Romani culture is largely accepted by much of the population. Ericson attempts to show not only the reality of a displaced community but also the positivity and creativity which exists within.