Noticing a situation is the first step in recognizing and solving a problem. It was there and then in 2010 when I first opened my eyes and saw this heavily challenged ethnic group.
The sense of justice followed me since I was a kid. It was there when I defended my buddies as kid, my colleagues, or when I discovered my ability to write. But it truly made sense when I decided to become a documentary photographer.
As I already told you, looking at the problem is the first step in solving it. And what better way to look at things than through the lenses of a camera. The camera gives me the ability to look at things without staring. It also helps me hide my emotions, for the things I sometimes see would make even the toughest men cry like babies.
And so, for me, becoming a documentary photographer and a social activist are two coinciding moments.
Since 2010 I’ve been constantly following roma’s realities trying to give the world a different point of view. While through my images I want to make people look, through my ideas I want people to challenge their own limitations and preconceptions.
Being forced evictions (human wrights and procedures violations, the right to adequate housing), ghettoization (segregation), denigratory terminology (rom VS gipsy), traditions (weddings), education (wasted generations), or family (the beauty of having large families), I shine a light on the wrongs and the goods, inspiring change through the power of example.
I can no longer impassively watch the bleeding hearts shade a tear for the starving kids in Africa, when we have similar dramas in our own backyard...