1st place
gold star award
Gregori Jeannette
france
title
Gypsy Childhoods
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entry description
The series "Gypsy Childhoods" aims to arouse emotions and bring viewers to develop a better acceptance of these neglected communities. It started in 2009 in the Polygone neighborhood in Strasbourg, has developped to the South of France, Paris, Poland, Czech republic and has continued up to this day. Some children who have been photographed for 8 years, show how over time they have overcome the discrimination due to their ethnicity. By highlighting Gypsies' poetry and the expressions of children's faces in situation of personal or collective suffering, the photos try to transmit values centred on humanity and human dignity. The series"Gypsy Childhoods" is an attempt to express a feeling of softness and hope in communities affected by the plagues of violence and poverty.about the photographer
Jeannette Gregori was born in 1967 and now lives in Strasbourg, France. She studied photography at the University of Fine Arts, Indiana, in the US and the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. Chance ad curiosity led to her getting to know a group of Romai families settled along a departmental road in Alsace, France in the summer of 2009. Her work since has sought to depict the engaging characters she came to know from these families and the humanity she saw in these people in the face of prejudices. Today, if she remains attached to this cause, she gradually opens to other society topics over the course of her experiences. Photography allows her to advocate children and women's rights or provide social guidance. Jeannette Gregori teaches photography in a high school and regularly intervenes with a public of young students all over France, to bring them to produce photographic works associated with creative writing.back to gallery