There are certain mental images associated with the Roma. There is the romantic view, the dreaming and eternally free gypsy traveling the world with his horse and caravan. Then there’s the victim view, the Roma always mistreated and abused. And last there is an image of aggressiveness, the dirty Roma, the Roma criminals. (Something worth mentioning is that if one portrays them romantically, it seems acceptable to call them gypsies –  while if they’re portrayed as victims or criminals there’s the politically correct name – Roma. Adding to this, I find it quite interesting that if I google ‘gypsy’, the images I see are of that romantic view, while if you google Roma/Romani I get all the misery in photos. Try.).

What I like about Joakim Eskildsen‘s photos is that they go beyond all of these portrayals. The images are simple and honest and they put together beauty, poverty and marginality without making its subjects dreamers, victims or criminals.

This Danish photographer traveled to Greece, India, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Russia and France to take these photos. That’s why the series is called The Roma Journey. It’s actually his journey meeting these people who have many things in common and at the same time they are very different.

Romania

Finland

Russia

Hungary

India

France

Greece

You can see all the photos here.