What is it like growing up in a Roma family?

East Berlin. In an old building on a busy street in Alt-Friedrichsfelde, surrounded by industrialized apartment buildings, you find several families living together in a confined space. What they have in common: they are all from Romania and call themselves “half Roma”.

The life of a Roma is not an easy one, worldwide. A lot of people from this minority group live in Romania, which is part of the European Union since 2007. Despite integration efforts into the European community, there is still a lot of catching-up to do to reach western European standards of living. Unemployment rates are high, the health care system weak, average salary at a very low level, and corruption remains one of the major issues. These socio-economic conditions still pose a challenge to a prosperous future for Roma families and their children. This is why a lot of the families embark on a journey westwards, to Germany, with the hope for work, a better life and better opportunities for their children and relatives back home.

Some of these families live in a simple building in Berlin’s district Alt-Friedrichsfelde, where photographer Miriam Klingl met them for the first time and accompanied them for a year.

Miriam’s photographs offer a close and intimate look into the lives of these Roma children, their process of becoming adults, their search for identity and a home between what seems to be opposite worlds, Berlin and Fântânele. Their life in their old home was filled with a sense of freedom, despite economic challenges. A life surrounded by nature. In oder to understand their longing and sentiment, Miriam visited Fântânele a few times. During her visits, she realized the impressive ability of these children to preserve this part of their attitude towards life and noticed the many similarities between their old and new home.

Her visits to Fântânele and to the apartment building in Berlin, resulted in a 100-page book in which Miriam allows to compare and contrast the life and circumstances of these children in Germany and Romania. It portrays it in a very loving and caring way. This book as well as large sized prints are now part of the exhibition at 44INCH PRINTWORKS.

June 17 – July 2, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday, June 16, 2017, 7 – 11 pm
Finissage: Thursday, June 29, 2017, 7 – 9 pm
Facebook Event

44INCH PRINTWORKS

Markgrafendamm 30, 10245 Berlin
[Friedrichshain | Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg]

Mon – Fri 11 am – 7 pm, Thu 11 am – 9 pm, Sat & Sun 1 – 6 pm

Admission free