FRANCE

"(…) Aren’t Roms the European people par excellence? They are found in all of our countries and suffer the same type of repression everywhere. In France, Lucia, Jeanne and Esméralda introduced me to Roms, Sinte, Kale, of every origin, on the outskirts of Paris. I could just as easily have stayed put in my studio’s neighborhood in the north of Paris: a spot where practically all of the peoples that I’ve come across throughout the world are represented.

(…) I first met Lucia, Jeanne and Esméralda through the associations they’ve set up, which work in synergy to defend the rights of Roms: Lucia, La Voix des Rroms; Jeanne, AVER-Centre Rrom Contre le Racisme; Esméralda, Samudaripen. Esméralda was 100 % in favor of a portrait: it’s crucial to get the cause talked about... Jeanne, a distinguished linguist who welcomed us into her small apartment in the Marais district, devotes her life to the history of her people."

Extract from Zoé Zoé, Femmes du mondes, 2007, Éditions Gallimard