Internationally renowned Romani artist Damian Le Bas has passed away

Damian Le Bas, a leading artist from the Romani community, passed away on Saturday, 9 December 2017 at the age of 54 at home in the small British town of Worthing in West Sussex. The Kai Dikhas Gallery in Berlin, Germany announced the sad news.

Mr Le Bas was best known for his work in collage and drawing, through which he transformed maps. His work investigated questions of borders and the existence of a safe space - a homeland - for Romani people.

He was one of 16 artists exhibiting as part of "Paradise Lost", the first Roma and Sinti Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. Before exhibiting on that occasion he had been an "unknown florist" studying at the Royal College of Art in London, news server Spiegel.de reports.

Mr Le Bas also exhibited at the 2007 Prague Biennale 3 in Prague, Czech Republic. According to Kai Dikhas, his work was considered an example of art brut or "outsider art", and he was a leading figure among contemporary Romani and Sinti artists in Europe.