Trails - the mobile exhibition
The mobile exhibition Sillages (Trails) looks back at the long-standing presence in France of Romani, Manouches, Sinti, Gitans, Yenish, and Travellers, as well as the development of control measures and discrimination against them since the beginning of the 20th century. It examines how stereotypes, still widely present in our contemporary societies, were created and disseminated
History and presence of Roms, Manouches, Sinti, Yenich, and Travellers in France
Legende
Eugène Biver, On the road in Saclay, Essonne. Itinerant Romani or Manouche communities, c. 1901.
Credit
© Collection Société française de photographie
The French history of Roma, Manouches, Sinti, Gitans, Yenish, and Travellers is often little known and remains tied to many stereotypes. Present and rooted in the national territory since the Middle Ages, these diverse and evolving populations have transformed over the centuries while continuing to contribute to all the major social, economic, and cultural developments of France.
This exhibition reveals the complexity and variety of attitudes towards them, and shows the political and cultural fabric that helped forge an often negative image of these peoples up until the present day. It challenges our society by highlighting their capacity to live together and accept a wide range of differences and diversities.
Legende
The surveillance and expulsion of nomads in various border departments in eastern France, c. 1910–1914. Collection of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, 2012.60.3.
Legende
A Paris police officer takes the fingerprints of a young nomad. Photograph published in “Le recensement des nomades de la région parisienne,” Le Matin, January 16 1936.
Credit
© Collection privée, Ilsen About
Although they are French citizens, whether born in France or having come from other countries, they continue to be perceived as foreigners. Scholars, journalists, and experts have sought to define the supposedly elusive identity of those who were long described as a “wandering nation” or a “people of the wind.”
State policies created vast registries designed to monitor and control individuals whom no one wished to receive. Numerous testimonies attest to this constant surveillance throughout the 20th century and to its many lasting effects up to the present day.
The repression during the First World War and the genocide carried out during the Second World War remain still little-known chapters of our history.
Legende
Romani coppersmiths’ camp in Dijon (Côte-d’Or), a group including members of the family of the writer Matéo Maximoff, c. 1900–1910. Collection of the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, 2018.131.1.
Beyond discrimination, family trajectories and personal destinies tell multiple stories that invite us to look on the other side of the mirror and move beyond stereotypes. Portraits of artists, some of them renowned, reveal witnesses of their time: their paths illustrate the diversity of these populations and their history, both French and fully European.
Objectives
- Show the ancient presence of the Roms, Manouches, Sintés, Gypsies, Yéniches and Travellers in France in all their diversity, and their ongoing contribution to the country’s social, economic and cultural changes.
- Provide a historical perspective on the surveillance and control that these populations have been subjected to from the late 19th century until the present day : administrative data collection, monitoring of movements, detention in concentration camps…
- Analyse the construction and mass dissemination of stereotyped imagery around these populations and their life styles, and the actual consequences of those prejudices that persist to this day.
In practice :
- 20 roll-up panels, 100 x 200 cm