PHOTO:A Good Home for Everyone
The exhibition “A Good Home for Everyone” challenges the image and idea of the good home and the modern Sweden that Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson set out in 1928. In contrast, the exhibition traces the contours of a 20th-century characterized by acts of racism and discrimination by government agencies.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Moderna Museet Archive
Today, the number of Roma living in Sweden is estimated at around 40,000-50,000 comprising of various different groups. The largest of these groups are Romani Travellers or Swedish Travellers, who are believed to have lived in the country since the 14th century. As the first group of Romani people to settle in Sweden, the Travelling Romani has had to endure much abuse. Entire housing areas where they lived have been burnt down, and they have been driven from their homes. Travellers were also subject to compulsory sterilisation until as late as the 1970s. Towards the end of the 19th century a new group of Romani arrived from Russia and France. They were not expelled from Sweden but were nevertheless refused permission to stay in one place for any length of time. Nor could they rent accommodation, but were referred to certain appointed areas where they could raise their tents. Their children were not admitted to Swedish schools. These conditions were eased only in the “60s. The ‘60s and onwards have mainly been characterised by campaigning from activists, among them Rosa and Katarina Taikon who worked intensively for the betterment of Romani conditions, demanding the right to education and housing. Other causes taken up by the activists have been the right to retain their own language and culture and to end discrimination. The activist movement is also concerned with asylum questions and with improving the situation in Europe generally. The work of Anna Riwkin and Björn Langhammer offer us a view into the conditions for Swedish minorities and a piece of modern history that has largely been omitted from official narratives about Sweden. The pervasiveness of persecution, discrimination and racism in our society has been overshadowed by concepts such as solidarity, the welfare state, the People’s Home, a progressive nation, and record-breaking years. The two sets of photographs also raise questions about the role of the camera and the photographer in the documentary situation. The exhibition conducts a critical discussion of these questions, which seen more broadly are about representing and being represented. The exhibition uncovers a tale of power and entitlement, about who can make their voice heard. Up to 1960 or so, the Roma were rarely seen or heard on their-own terms. If they were represented at all, it was by someone from the majority. Anna Riwkin’s photogrpahs from 1954-55 thus resulted from commissions to take photographs for a series of reportages that Ivar Lo-Johansson wrote for Vi magazine. The political activism that emerged during the 1960s, with Katarina Taikon as its figurehead, radically altered the situation. The anti-racist movement made it possible to fight a battle that followed the Roma’s own agenda. Björn Langhammer, who was married to Katarina Taikon, was part of this movement and, for example, photographed activists petitioning Prime Minister Tage Erlander to introduce adult education for the Roma, and taking part in the great May Day march in 1965. The exhibition also includes documentation and moving images showing how the Swedish authorities continually discriminated against Roma, from the entry ban of 1914-1954 to the police in Skåne keeping an illegal register of Roma in 2013. an agitator, a famous activist and author at the front of a protest march.
Info: A Good Home For Everyone, Curators: Fredrik Liew & Lawen Mohtadi, Moderna Museet, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Duration: 17/10/15-4/1/165/9-6/12/15, Days & Hours: Tue 10:00-20:00, Wed & Fri – Sun 10:00–18:00, www.modernamuseet.se
