An article by Mary Humphrey, 3rd Year BA (Hons) Photography Student at the Cambridge School of Art.

During the summer I was invited to attend a Symposium entitled "Exclusive Education - Marginalisation:Gypsies/Travellers" at De Montfort University. The symposium was of particular interest to me was because of my work photographing Gypsies and Travellers over the past two years the results of which I was invited to display as a visual compliment the content of the symposium.

The focus of the symposium was to identify the reasons why children from these communities are marginalised. From these findings educators will be able to implement best practices in order to provide safe and practical environments for the children to attend and remain in school. A lot of discussion ensued on how far Gypsy and Traveller children should be assimilated within local communities without the risk of their loss of culture. Gypsies and Travellers are fiercely proud of their heritage and their culture but collaboration has to be established so that future generations are no longer placed at a disadvantage because of lack of formal education. This is a systemic problem that has to be tackled from government levels to the ground roots.

A lot of interest was shown in my photographic exhibition of Gypsy and Travellers by presenters and attendees. I now face an interesting challenge having been invited to photograph Roma in Transylvania.

Please click images to enlarge.

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