The Rom: Winds of the Diaspora - from Rajasthan to the Saint-Jacques neighbourhood
Tiane Doan Na Champassak
Bilderberg - Studio X
It has been four years since I took the first photographs for this project which documents the journey of the Rom people over the centuries. With time, and through the many countries I visited, meeting many different people along the way, I learned better to understand the culture of this fully-fledged society which fascinates me.
This photographic essay was prepared with the help of Unesco and the support of the Hachette Foundation, and spans India, Bulgaria, Romania and France. In each country, I met with groups of Roms, took historical facts which could shed some light on the roots as well as on changes in the way of life of these societies which are only starting to settle, after centuries on the road.
India, the Rom’s country of origin, is also the point of departure of the Rom “colonies”. Through my work, I want to trace their first journey in India, in what today is Rajasthan, at the time of their initial migrations around 1000 A.D.. The very roots of the Rom people and the reasons they left India are still a controversial topic for specialists today. As the Rom society is based on oral tradition, researchers have no archives to study. My aim with this work, which is based on recognized research on the Gypsies, is to propose and suggest a comparative study of the Oriental and the Western Rom peoples, through photographs depicting physical traits, traditional social activities, traditions, ways of life, etc. It is quite conceivable that the Rom came from northern India, and more precisely from Rajasthan. Many researchers contend that the Rom are the “heirs” of two Indian tribes which still exist today, the Gaduliya Lohar and the Banjara.
The Rom’s modern-day way of life has chenged considerably. More of them are settled and are integrated into local society. Time will tell whether such a change in their way of life will not eventually lead the Rom to lose their specificity.
Tiane Doan de Champassak
I wish to thank the Hachette Foundation and its Jury for their support of my project.
