christine ford, New Zealand

Kushti divvus. “Hello” in Angloromani, the language of my Romanichal ancestors—Romany people who migrated from India centuries ago, and by the 1500s found themselves in Great Britain. My family is from the Scottish borders, where we were referred to as “border gypies” by the Gadjo (non-Romany people). Today my family are “blow ins” to Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand.

My father taught me a bit of Romanes (a language related to Angloromani), as well as Romany stories. When I talked about feeling “other,” he told me that was the Roma’s natural state. Living on the fringe, he said, was the safest place to be. He stressed the safety of hiding—not only our identity—but the secret parts of our culture. He helped me understand who I am, and encouraged me to paint our stories and culture.

So you won’t find any Romany secrets in my paintings. But hopefully you will see my best attempt to tell stories that are meaningful to me—and that show what that world has so generously given me.

I am a Rom in another people’s land—the story of many Roma.

About the title of my exhibition…

Roma left ashes and sticks along the road—called patrins, a Romani word—as messages for other travelling Roma to find. Patrins were there on my lungo drom, the long road of my life. Sometimes I couldn't see them for what they were. Sometimes they were like fragments of memory. And sometimes they were unmistakable. My paintings are my patrins to my children.