Paul Gauguin

Vidas Ciganas - Gypsy Lives

To Bright Ideas Nottingham,

On the morning of October 9, Leonarda  Dibrani, a 15 year old gypsy girl studying in France,  was arrested by the authorities during a school trip. Just a few hours later, she and her family were deported to Kosovo, where their community suffers from discrimination and physical aggression. According to Le Monde, the young girl had been studying at the André Malraux Institution for the past five years and speaks French fluently. Furthermore, she was a good student, perfectly integrated in the school community.

Manuel Valls, Minister of the Interior, has spoken to the public saying that the immigration policies must be firmly conducted and that the deportation of Leonarda’s family was done within legitimate measures.  Naturally, this situation raised up several protests against the way gypsy minorities are treated in France, for even when they fulfill their duties legally, they suffer some kind of discrimination.

Last Wednesday, October 16^th, I visited the Gypsy Lives (Vidas Ciganas) exposition at the Lisbon City Museum.  It was a very well conceived recollection of visual and historical data about the lives of the gypsy community in the late 19^th century and through the 20^th century.  This exposition exhibits personal photos that belong to the Cultura Gitana instution, in Spain, one of the most important supporters of the event, together with the Acción Cultural Española society.

According to the information at the guidance lines, the gypsy community is the largest ethnic minority in Europe. What I found to be the most beautifully done achievement in this exposition was the fact that it was partial. There is no stereotyping, no depreciating of the gypsy community; instead, we are surrounded by a genuine feeling of embracement towards this ethnic group. We visualize their traditions and learn more about their community. Today, gypsy families have become much more opened to the rest of the society they are inserted in. Women go to school, men have jobs besides the traditional ones (they no longer work in fairs); A lot of them just integrates society just like any other citizen.

My visit to the museum really made me think harder about Leonarda’s situation. Why should this girl and her family be punished because of prejudice and intolerance? 

100 anos de Vinicius de Moraes

Camille

Le Mépris, 1963

Apples

So tell that girl you dont love her

And if you do, tell her two times

Get your kicks on route 66

and October leaves cover everything.

ginástica com sentido

Frits Thaulow, 1847 - 1906

Georges Delerue

(Se a segunda composição não for a coisa mais arrebatadora de sempre, não sei que mais esperar do mundo.)

Movimentos

Go ask Alice

«Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.»

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Hunger, 2008

«ouve-me»

(e ignorar o carro que está fora de ordem)

As mulheres da minha vida, Woody Allen

Objecções

Cosmopoli

«One who belongs to the world.»

Henri Rousseau, 1844-1910