ABSTRACT
People arriving at the Plymouth Arts Centre, in Devon, England, for the private view of an exhibition of Josef Koudelka’s photographs were surprised to find two exhibitions on show. In the main gallery was Koudelka’s work, photographs of Gypsies from all parts of Europe, taken over many years. In the café alongside the gallery were more photographs of Gypsies, but these had all been taken and processed over the previous few months by a group of Gypsy teenagers then living in the city. The novelty of the second exhibition attracted much of the attention of the gallery clientele, and they gave many favorable comments. The reaction I remember most clearly, however, came from a respectably dressed, middle-aged woman, who said, “How can they put those pictures here—those children can’t even read.…” Then almost as an afterthought she said, “I could do that myself.”
