RoMagic: Proudly Queer. Unapologetically Roma, a photographic exhibition which has been on display in Brussels, Belgrade and Bucharest in recent months, shows the hidden lives and resilience of Europe’s Romani LGBTQ+ communities, long obscured due to both racism and homophobia.
Organised by the European Roma Rights Centre, ERRC, RoMagic includes intimate portraits and audio stories of queer Roma people from Hungary, Moldova, Romania or Serbia. Co-created by Romani activists and their allies, the exhibition combines documentary photography with personal testimonies, accessible via QR codes
“LGBTIQ+ Roma are so marginalised, so invisible, that the first step must simply be to affirm that we exist,” said Djordje Jovanovic, the ERRC’s president. “I hope this project gives our families words of courage and strengthens younger generations to choose life even when the struggle feels unbearable.”
The exhibition also sheds light on the broader struggles of Europe’s largest ethnic minority – still facing segregation, evictions, abuse by police and social exclusion, according to its members. For queer Roma, these injustices are compounded by rejection within their own communities and by society at large. “RoMagic is a call for solidarity, not competition in suffering,” Jovanovic added.
