Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture opens retrospective of photographer Nihad Nino Pušija
Tomorrow at 17:00 the Museum of Romani Culture will open the exhibition “Parno Gras” by Nihad Nino Pušija, the renowned photographer from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pušija lives in Berlin, Germany and wanders between different cultures and states as an intercultural migrant.
For more than 20 years he has used his photography to document the situation of Romani people from the former Yugoslavia who, as unwanted refugees from the Balkan wars, are now scattered all over Europe. He documents their frequently unwelcomed returns “home” and their current existence, which continues to be impacted by discrimination and extensive poverty.
Parno Gras
The exhibition will be on view at the museum until 24 September. It will be possible to meet the artist himself during two photograph workshops, one this weekend (13 – 14 May) and one next week (15 – 17 May), as well as during commented tours of the exhibition during Brno’s “Night at the Museums” on 20 May at 18:30 and 20:30 (address: Bratislavská 67 in Brno – http://www.rommuz.cz, FB: https://www.facebook.com/muzeum.romske.kultury).
The Romani people in Pušija’s photographs are not depicted as an ethnic folklore group that is being romanticized, nor are they portrayed as victims. His work focuses specifically on their existential conflicts and depicts them in aesthetically impressive, emotionally moving, intellectually inspiring photographs.
About “Parno Gras”, the artist says: “After many exhibitions that I did with Roma people, I decided to bring all the collections into one collection. For me, this is an entire history of what has happened to Romani people. At the end of the last century, since the year 2000, the situation for Romani people in Europe has been catastrophic. Not just by means of photography, but also by creating three-dimensional objects, I am doing my best to tell their stories and to warn of the problems associated with Romani communities. ‘Parno Gras’ is not just any exhibition, it is basically all the work that I have ever done on this topic.”
