Clothbound hardback with jacket, edition of 850 copies.

In the summer of 2009 I found myself in the city of Breclav in the south of the Czech Republic. Here I learned that the mayor had evicted two Romani families from their homes – in a city where they had lived for several generations – to make space for a new shopping mall in their neighbourhood. They were moved to a stable that stank of ordure and lacked both running water and heating. This was the beginning of my documentary photographic project about the Romani people of Europe and their living conditions. For five years I have depicted the daily life of the Romani in ten countries: France, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain and Switzerland. The Romani feel discriminated everywhere in Europe. They often live outside of society without human rights: social, political, cultural and economic. However, some countries stand out, particularly those of Eastern Europe. Here a Romani name is a one-way ticket to ghettos such as Lunik IX outside Kosice in eastern Slovakia. In contrast, Spain is a country where Romani culture is largely accepted by the majority population. Romani children attend regular schools and can climb the socioeconomic ladder and Romani marry Spaniards. My aim with this photographic series is to reach beyond the clichéd image of the Romani. I do not only want to show the repression and misery under which great numbers of Romani live. My story is also about the Romani who are integrated in European everyday life. While I was photographing in Europe, poor Romani from Romania and Bulgaria began begging on the streets of my hometown, Stockholm. I hope my images can help you understand why. — Åke Ericson Mastering documentary photography's capacity to tell stories about our world and bringing its unknown parts closer to us, is an art. Åke Ericson (b. 1962) has worked with the camera all his life, portraying his encounters with policymakers and politicians, refugees and conflict areas worldwide. Non grata, Latin for "undesirable" or "not welcome", describes the situation for some of the millions of Romani of Europe. It is about being born into exclusion and living in inhumane conditions, and also about love, everyday life and culture. In recent years the situation for many of Europe's Roma has become visible even in our everyday life and the reality that Ericson reproduces in a classic documentary tradition has suddenly come very close.

Åke Ericson, *1962; lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.

https://www.akeericson.com