On the occasion of the International Roma Day – 8th of April, the Open Society Institute in Sofia and the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria supported the Club of the Graduates of the Internship Programme for Young Roma at the National Assembly to present the exhibition “LOLUDI/FLOWER” – ethnic pictures taken by the young Roma photographer Mr Raycho Chaprazov.
The exposition was opened on the 7th of April by the Speaker of Parliament – Mrs Tsetska Tsacheva and lasted until the 15th of April 2011 in the North Foyer of Bulgaria’s Parliament. From there it moved to the next door building of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In addition to the photos, the exhibition got enriched by interesting historical artefacts and documents about the Roma on the Balkans and several posters presenting the Academy’s current projects related to Roma issues, including the EU funded projects of the Institute for Population and Human Studies “Restoring the European Dimension of the Roma Language and Culture” [R.E.D.–RROM], “Health and the Roma Community” and “Identifying and Reducing Prejudices as a Source of Conflict between Roma and Non-Roma Population – Cases of Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and Slovenia Compared – REDUPRE”.
The Academy hosted the exhibition for about four weeks and during that period the Feast of St. George – 6th of May, was met. The majority of Bulgaria’s Roma people (including Non-Christian Roma people who call it Ederlezi) celebrate the St. George’s Day as one of their most respected holidays and it is among the highly praised festivities of the Roma population; thanks to the media coverage and tradition that day still remains more popular than the International Roma Day. During the days before and after the St. George’s Day, the Main Foyer of the Academy welcomed all visitors – academic and non-academic, and provided them an opportunity to learn about the Roma visual arts and culture and become aware of its current Roma projects.
After the exhibition was closed, the REDUPRE project poster joined the travelling exhibition of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences which represented its international projects in many countries around the world.
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