March 3, 2025 • 56 mins
"Seeking Warmth," an art exhibit curated by artist Sharon Svec, held at Art At The Cave in Vancouver, WA running March 4-29, 2025, aims to explore humanity's need for emotional and physical warmth, especially during times of extreme circumstances such as those caused by genocide, war, oppression and neglect. Ceija Stojka (1933-2013) was a child survivor of the Romani Holocaust (Samudaripen) who began sharing her experiences in written and painted format in 1988 at age 55. She is recognized as a bold activist of Roma, who continue to face persecution today. Sam Marroquin works in collage and paint to expose current and historical trauma within society, emphasizing systems that mask the atrocities against humanity. Daniel Baker examines the role of artistic practice as a form of social agency with a focus on Roma aesthetics.
Read The Memoirs of Ceija Stojka, Child Survivor of the Roma Holocaust, translated by Lorely French
Follow @sharonimous, @cave.gallery.vancouver, @ceijastojka_int_association, @danielbakerarts
Our Romani crush is Susie.
CN: from minute 42-44 we discuss a story involving suicide. Skip ahead if you don't want to listen. Reach out for support if you feel vulnerable. You are not alone. Here are Crisis Hotlines That Don't Call The Cops
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Romanistan is hosted by Jezmina Von Thiele and Paulina Stevens
Conceived of by Paulina Stevens
Edited by Viktor Pachas
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have a content warning.
At 42 minutes begins a storythat makes mention of suicide.
If you would prefer to skip it,fast forward to 44 minutes.
If you listen and you feeltriggered or in any way unsafe,
please reach out to your network, your support system, your
(00:22):
therapist.
We will also have a link tosome different suicide hotlines
that don't call the police.
And then there is, of course,988, if you are in America.
So take a look at the shownotes if you need them.
Take care of yourself, you arenot alone along.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome to Romanistan .
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're your friendly neighborhood gypsies.
I'm Paulina and I'm Jez.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And today we're here with Sharon Svek.
Sharon is many things, butevery iteration is laid with the
foundation of an artist,whether through visits to the
Art Institute of Chicago or toher grandfather's workbench.
She was exposed to artregularly.
She framed her life with aneducation, career and practices
centered on creativity andmaintained through cultural
respect.
Sharon earned an MFA at theSouthern Illinois University in
(01:31):
2000, with degrees in visualcommunication and professional
media practice.
She also studied and performedregularly with the theater
department.
Sharon worked in printing,publishing and communication.
In 2010, she found meaning at asocial justice organization
where she led communicationefforts for seven programs over
eight years.
(01:52):
Today, sharon manages threegalleries and is contracted with
the City of Vancouver toorganize an exhibit for their
2025 Arts and Music Festival,for their 2025 Arts and Music
Festival, shifting betweenperformance and visual arts.
Sharon has been exhibiting herworks since about 1990.
(02:13):
So, yay, thank you for being onthe show.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
We're so happy to have you, so tell us a little
more about yourself.
Where are you from?
Where's your family from?
What's your visa Share with?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
us?
Yes, okay, so I was born inSouthern Illinois, which is not
Chicago, but my parents are fromChicago, so they didn't know
each other.
They moved down thereseparately and then had my
brother and myself down there inSouthern Illinois and we would
(02:52):
travel to Chicago regularly.
I do mention visiting the ArtInstitute of Chicago, so my
parents, my grandparents, werestill up there.
Let's see, that's where I'mfrom.
My family is from Chicago.
Prior to that, they're from, uh, slovakia.
Well, current day Slovakia, itwas Austria, hungary at the time
(03:14):
, and, um, poland and Sweden,who is the only one that I know
for sure, 100% is Romani is fromwhat's?
Current day Central Slovakia.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I want to ask our favorite question Do you
consider yourself a rebel, andwhy yes or no?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
why yes or no?
Yeah, so, uh, sometimes,sometimes I'm rebellious.
Uh, I think I'm not rebelliousjust for the sake of being
rebellious, but when, uh, itfeels like the right thing to do
right like when I ran away fromhome, I suppose that was
rebellious it seemed like theright thing to do right, like
when I ran away from home, Isuppose that was rebellious it
seemed like the right thing todo that kind of stuff.
But, uh, but no, I'm notrebellious just for the sake of
(04:17):
it.
So does that capture?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
that you're following your heart we have these
conversations and it's like whatis even like rebellious, like I
guess it depends on how youwere raised.
You know, yeah, going to schoolwas rebellious for me growing
up right super great yeah, whenit goes against the norm.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I guess I have gone against the norm a number of
times, but not all the times soyou are curating an art exhibit
titled seeking warmth at art inthe cave this march um.
Seeking warmth is the name ofthe show, listeners, and art at
the cave is the gallery.
Please tell us about it andyour inspiration for it.
(05:02):
We're so excited, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Well, my inspiration is in thinking about.
You know, we mentioned in theintroduction that you read my
time at the social justice group.
So that was YWCA Clark Countyjustice age group.
(05:29):
So that was a YWCA Clark Countyand the.
You know their mission iseliminating racism, empowering
women and promoting peace,justice and freedom and dignity
for all.
They have YWCA's CAs aredifferent everywhere in what
programs they have, and this onehad multiple different programs
, but they were all under thatmission, right?
So, as the communications personI was, everything was going
(05:50):
under that mission and I learneda lot about social justice and
about institutional racism andall of that good stuff.
And I learned how important itis to diversify people in places
of power, right, because whenyou diversify people in places
(06:12):
of power, you diversify theresults that come out of those
places.
So, after years of trying toget a position of power through
traditional work methods, Idecided screw it, I'm going to
(06:34):
follow my heart and go to theart side of things.
And then I ended up in aposition of power and that was
weird, so, um.
So I thought, well, I want touse my unique perspectives to
help shape the outcomes of this,these spaces that I'm working
in and uh, so I have.
(06:57):
You know, we all have uniqueperspectives.
Mine are really stemming frommy family influence and, like my
just personal experience, andone of those many, many aspects
is my interest in the Romahistory of my family on my dad's
(07:17):
side, and I wanted to share thevoice of Roma.
Share the voice of Roma.
In my personal experience, Iexperienced a lot of the things
that I've heard other of yourguests experience, like othering
(07:39):
and assumptions about who youare and what your race or
ethnicity is, and and it wasn'tnecessarily related to me being
Roma, because they didn't knowthat, that was in my background,
because I wouldn't share thatinformation, but it still
influenced me and internally, Iwas experiencing that um and
(08:02):
that conflict between, like ohwell, well, grandpa said I
shouldn't talk about this.
I mean I could if I wanted to.
It's gonna make life moredifficult, and so, like, all
these things are going in myhead.
But then, yeah, when I became,when I came into the art world
and I felt comfortable in mycareer, I was like, okay, okay,
(08:26):
I'm gonna, I'm gonna start doingwhat I always wanted to do, and
one of those things that Ialways wanted to do was elevate
the voice of Roma and let peopleknow that we are more than more
than a trope.
Know that whole thing.
That's what inspired uh me toit, like from the spark, right.
(08:52):
But how am I gonna do this?
I don't feel like I want to puttogether a show and be like,
look at me, um.
So I tried to reach out toothers and you guys actually
helped me with that.
With a post a few years ago,you shared a post and I was
looking for american romaartists and I didn't get very
(09:15):
many replies.
So I'm like, okay, well, this,you know it's not time for this
yet, clearly so.
And then I heard your interviewwith Chaya Stoica International
Association and I was like, oh,and there's their email address
, oh.
And so I emailed them and I waslike, hey, just so you know, I
(09:41):
run a few galleries and if youever want to collaborate, just
let reach out.
And Laura Lee reached out andshe was like so I'm just across
the river from you, would youlike to get together?
And that was just incredibleand awesome.
And we started talking and itbecame a real possibility.
(10:03):
So it just snowballed fromthere.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I pulled in a couple other artists and yeah, that's
the foundation of that Cool.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
What drew you to the artists you're including right
now?
I was drawn to.
I mean, I was familiar withChaya's work just from my
research online already, so, andthen the accessibility is
really what secured my interestin that.
Sam Morican, whose series iscalled the Madness of War.
(11:01):
She started painting theseimages after October 7th 2023.
And these, I mean they're likeI don't know if you saw the
website or I sent you the link,but they're pretty intense
paintings.
She's on like 70 or 80 now ofthese drawings and paintings
(11:28):
depicting the madness of war and, um, I was familiar with her as
an artist and, um, her passionreally lies in media
representation and propagandaand how it's, you know, really
(11:50):
curved and curated to thattarget audience.
And it seemed like a good fit,because Chaya's work would not
fill the whole gallery.
It's a big space.
What I would have access towould not fill the whole space
and, uh, her work seemed like ajust great modern compliment to
(12:12):
it.
And I was reading Chaya'smemoirs and there's a line in
there a couple times shementions how she sought warmth
in and in and amongst the deadbodies and that was like a safe
(12:34):
place for her.
Um, she could stay warm and,you know, she kind of became
friends with them and she wouldtake care of them and move their
chins up when they fell and fixtheir whatever's their clothes
and talk with them and spendtime with them.
(12:57):
And you know, she was seekingphysical warmth and emotional
warmth among the dead, and I wasreally, really drawn to that
idea and so I named the showSeeking Warmth.
(13:18):
And the next thing that came tomind was Daniel Baker's
emergency artifacts series,where he uses emergency blankets
the silver blankets to weavethese just beautiful pieces he
(13:40):
also makes.
He's made like a bodysuit andlike a little doll looking thing
from them.
And it made me think of aninterview I heard a long time
ago I don't know if it wasKatrina or what the situation
was, but some interview I heardand they were like, yeah, so
(14:04):
emergency blankets were like anew thing.
And they were like, oh, yeah,they're sending us emergency
blankets Like that's great, it'snot what we need, it's not like
this is another Band-Aid.
So I just really love that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I don't know it, just all, or listeners, actually,
and readers.
You can find them.
You can still order it.
It's not super easy to get, butit's translated by Laura Lee
French if you are an Englishspeaker.
But, yeah, we are so excited tosee how this show comes
together.
What are the exact dates of theshow?
(15:05):
March 4th through 29th Awesome.
So, yeah, you have most ofMarch to go see the show and we
actually have clips from artistsDaniel Baker and Sam.
Is it Marroquin?
Yep, yeah, and Sam Marroquinright now.
So we're going to insert themdue to editorial magic.
(15:27):
So enjoy listening to theirwords about their work and their
inspiration for the show.
And just to clarify tolisteners who are on the lookout
for artists sam is not a romaniartist dan and chaya are romani
artists hello.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Hello, I'm Sam Motorkin.
Thank you for taking the timeto talk about this art exhibit
Seeking Warmth.
It is an honor to be includedwith Chaya Stoica and Daniel
Baker in this collection ofartwork, curated by Sharon Speck
, that examines the need foremotional and physical warmth in
times of oppression.
The need for emotional andphysical warmth in times of
(16:06):
oppression.
When I was a young child, myparents always watched the
evening news and I would seeclips of people fighting in
distant countries.
My mother and father would givevague answers when I asked
about it.
The attacks, blood andterrorized people were always
illogical in my developing mind,and they still are.
Why couldn't they just getalong?
(16:27):
The terrifying truth of war isthe stench of burned flesh, the
cries of those slowly dyingunder the rubble and long
trenches filled with corpses.
Sadly, we live in a world wheremorality no longer matters and
historical amnesia plagues theatmosphere.
Regardless of what side you areon, the results are agony
(16:52):
Through charcoal and paint.
I challenge my viewers.
Can seeing the effects ofviolence upon innocent people
change our perspective ofconflict?
Cutting through the opinions,noise and illusions of mass
media, I focus on humanity.
This body of work centers onPalestine.
However, my subjects transcenda precise time and place.
(17:14):
I choose for my paintings torepresent combat from almost
anywhere in the world.
Deeply troubled by the currentconflict, I was moved to draw
and paint moments of extremefear, pain and suffering,
depicting times of endlesswaiting, the instant a bomb
explodes, loved ones grapplingwith loss or sifting through the
rubble that was once a home.
(17:35):
I seek to bear witness to theimpacts of war.
We are subject to the constantand sophisticated manipulation
of reality and the exclusion ofsignificant topics by the news
media.
The capitalistic interests ofthese agencies influence the
stories that are told and theways that they are framed.
This distortion in the newscauses people to align
(17:57):
themselves with certain factionsor politics without even
knowing the facts or history ofthe situation.
For inspiration, I look to thecoverage of journalists and
photographers who are actuallyon the ground amidst the
fighting and destruction.
To shape these pieces, I makequick and abstract sketches with
my non-dominant hand, relyingon a combination of contour and
(18:20):
line contour drawing.
Then I add detail by paintingit in with acrylic colors,
capturing the dusty orsmoke-filled air of the combat
zone or the stark mood ofsurvivors.
My blocky handwritten text addsanother visual element, drawing
attention to the underlyingintent of my composition and
perhaps a window into what thesepeople are going through.
(18:44):
Creating these paintings is noteasy.
Researching closely, followingthe news and portraying the
violence and destruction in mycompositions is difficult work,
both technically and emotionally.
Reading Stoica's memoir wasdeeply moving for me.
Learning about experiences suchas hers and what they endured
(19:07):
is vital.
Whether examining the horrorsof the Romani Holocaust,
armenian Genocide or the ethniccleansing of Native Americans,
we must acknowledge andcontinually learn from our past.
Currently, the occupation ofPalestine, extreme violence in
Haiti, war in Sudan and forcedmigration and deportation around
(19:30):
the globe are just a few of themass atrocities that we face.
Revealing the truth of theseand other stories through my
paintings becomes a way oflooking at our history as we
build for future generations.
I, like Stoica and many others,have hoped that someday we can
live in a world free ofoppression and social injustice.
(19:52):
In one of her poems, stoicawrites my wish for the world is
that people pay attention and gothrough the world with open
eyes and see that something likethis never happens again.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
My name is Daniel Baker and I'm an artist from a
Romary family in England.
The works on display in SeekingWarmth are from my Emergency
Artifact series, whichtransforms Mylar rescue blankets
into objects of various forms.
This set of six abstract workson show are intentionally
ambiguous in their appearancebut retain the possibility of
(20:49):
functionality by echoing thesize and form of placemats that
you might find on a domesticdining table in the home.
By bringing together materialsassociated with danger and
crisis and juxtaposing them withforms that speak of comfort and
sustenance, I am encouragingthe viewer to think about the
precarious nature of the safetythat many of us take for granted
.
This series echoes some otherworks that are made in a similar
(21:09):
way, called Survival Blankets,which again draw together the
contrasting associations ofdanger found in the materiality
of rescue foil and the idea ofcomfort conveyed by the hand
crocheted blanket.
(21:36):
My art practice is greatlyinformed by my experience of
growing up in a Romani familyhome.
The ornate decor of our livingspace had a lasting effect on me
in my journey as an artist.
The ways in which the domesticinterior conveyed the narratives
and values of our communitythrough objects and materials
made a big impact on me from ayoung age, and the experiences
(21:57):
and questions set in motion thenstill seem relevant to me today
.
I believe that the Romaaesthetic is the main site of
cultural agency for Roma people.
Another way of thinking aboutRoma aesthetics is to think in
terms of Roma visual culture.
This is important because, inthe absence of a literary
tradition, for hundreds of years, visuality became the primary
(22:18):
vehicle of culturalcommunication and social
exchange.
Romalives have historicallybeen narrated, informed and
reflected through visual culture, and I believe that this is
(22:47):
where our culture are crucial tocommunicating their values and
preoccupations to the widerworld.
Roman aesthetics is a usefulexample to other cultures
because it has originated from atraditionally nomadic culture
which has been essentiallynon-literary and therefore is
perhaps more acutely honed as aninstrument of social agency.
In terms of aesthetics, thework I make is intended to
(23:09):
generate an experientialresponse.
This ties in with my ownexperience of Roman material
culture, where objects conveymeaning and narrative through
their materiality and their form, much of which is rooted in
Roma heritage and Romatraditions.
The idea of seeking warmth isexplored within my work in the
(23:38):
exhibition through the ambiguityof the objects that I make,
where the possibilities ofcomfort and sustenance are
undercut by my use of precariousmaterials and the fragility of
their manufacture.
I hope that my work encouragesviewers to think about the
precarious nature of ourexistence and the safety and
stability that we all take forgranted off topic, I love the
(24:26):
shirt that you're wearing.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I actually ordered the blue one from you, which I
wear and get compliments on allthe time.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yay, yeah oh, it's your own design.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, thank you it's I have the same one in blue oh
my gosh um.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Can we describe it for the audio listeners?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
yeah, um, I can try it's.
Uh, it's like almost like clawmarks.
Would that be accurate?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
yes, yeah, or like stripes are really cool yeah and
um.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They come in different colors it's like a
lavender, pink, purple, likeclaw marks, and it's like a
white shirt.
It's long sleeve, but it's alsoa crop top yeah, and it's
really loose and comfortable andit's like a good quality cotton
, um, and I've been meaning topost about it, but I wear it and
then I'm like, oh, and then Ijust wear it, and then I change
(25:30):
and I'm like now it's dirty, butI just washed it again, so I
will post it soon yeah it'sreally comfortable, really nice,
definitely check it out.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I love that.
Actually, that seguesbeautifully into our next
question, because you work in alot of different mediums.
I mean, we've been looking atyour work for years now and what
drives you to create and whatdo your different art forms
offer you?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
yeah, stress.
And what do your different artforms offer you?
Yeah, stress Relatable.
So I tend to create a lot whenI just have a lot going on and
(26:18):
need a brain break and I need totake care of myself when I need
to reflect and decompress.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Do you want to share what your mediums are, just for
anyone who's not familiar withyour work?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
yeah, I um, since 20, shucks, 20, I don't even know
2013, since 2013, I've beenworking with a product called
solar fast and you can use thatto.
It's like cyanotypes, um, whereyou're using the sun to expose
images onto fabric.
(26:57):
So I started doing tapestrieswith those and there's like a
photo that is the base and thenI'll do a spray paint stencil on
top of it to kind of providecontext for the photo.
And then I started to like gointo clothing, just like
(27:22):
fiddling around with nature.
So one of the last things thatI did was, um, take the flowers
of a smoke tree and tie themtogether into clouds and then I
hung them so they just likedrift around.
They're like little naturalcloudy things, but it's
(27:45):
something that like.
As I'm wrapping those, I feellike all of these elements
include nature.
I'll do basket weavingsometimes.
Right now I'm writing onto um.
It's not echinacea, it'seucalyptus leaves.
(28:08):
It's like a um, it's like acommunication.
It's like a uh spell, right,it's like a.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It's a way to ask the universe questions and get
answers what do you want theworld to know or appreciate
(28:45):
about romani art?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
um, but I first want to say that I really love
daniel's response to a similarquestion and whatever he said I
want to echo that because Idon't remember the exact words,
but I remember hearing it and Iwas like, yes, um, he's far more
eloquent in his response thanI'm going to be, but I think
(29:15):
that, uh, I think that Romaniart is as diverse as its people
and, um, I want people to see itas a proof, like proof of
existence.
Um, it's the voice that's fromthe people.
(29:42):
It, uh, it can reflect thewhole gamut of experience, of
trauma, from somebody who isdeeply ingrained in traditional
culture to someone who'sprobably more separated, um,
(30:03):
which I might fall more on thatend of it and, uh, it's so.
It's a tool.
It like the more people thatput it out there it's a tool to
find commonalities between eachother and to compare and to
(30:25):
contrast and all the things thatart does for humanity.
Anyway, just in a concentratedspace.
Yeah, I think there's somecommonalities in.
I was trying to see if therewas.
You know, there's this newaccount, roma Aesthetic, and
(30:46):
Daniel talks a lot about theRoma Aesthetic and I was kind of
thinking about what that is andwhat I observe.
One thing that I observe, orthat I like a lot, is the
resourcefulness.
I have all these things that mygrandpa used to say right, like
swimming in my head, and one isuh, if you can't, if you can't
(31:13):
make it or trade for it, youprobably don't need it or trade
for it, you probably don't needit, and it's so.
It's such a like to me.
It's such a Roma thing to sayum, and I see that in the art a
(31:48):
lot and I want to.
Actually I have a piece here Iwanted to show you that was his.
He made a whole village and umbridges and windmills and um a
woodshed and all these pieces.
Look at the little, the littleblue roses in the pieces.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Look at the little, the little blue roses.
And that is so sweet.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Oh my gosh it's this tiny little, tiny little
structure, and he ended upmaking me like a giant dollhouse
of this too, but it's all madefrom.
He would walk up to the cornerstore and he would get the
discarded fruit boxes out of thetrash and take them home and
make a whole new world with themthat's so cool yeah, really
(32:24):
really like beautiful anddetailed, extremely detailed,
yeah and there's so many otherlike artists today that I see
doing that.
Um, I don't know if I'm sayingher name right, but Gosia Mirga
a genius yeah, yeah oh my gosh,yeah, we're such Selma fans
(32:48):
totally.
I mean, I use a lot of, like Isaid, nature, whatever's lying
around, uh, some more um localartists, american artists, uh,
lucy doe duncan and richardscoriander heart.
(33:11):
I just I love it.
I love seeing all the, all theways that we can come together
through art.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It's a very beautiful thing.
I also for listeners.
I don't know if we've actuallytalked about this on the podcast
.
We did post about it, but gosee.
America has a a display on theoh what's it called?
The High Line in New New York.
So if you're in New York,please go to the High Line.
(33:42):
It's a lovely walk and you getto see her beautiful artwork,
which is such a big deal.
I lost my mind when I saw thatshe's displayed there, because
it just feels like so muchprogress.
Like we don't usually see Romaart in public spaces Anywhere.
Yeah, and it's so exciting tohave a Roma exhibit at a gallery
too.
Like it's just like these aresuch wonderful markers for
(34:05):
progress and it's also areminder that we can support
Romani culture.
Like, whatever our specialtiesand interests are.
You know, we always have a wayto kind of shine a light on our
community, totally.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Yeah, are you know?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
we always have a way to kind of shine a light on our
community.
And yeah, you are also acommunication specialist, which
sounds really interesting.
Can you share a little bitabout that aspect of your career
, what that entails, what youlike about?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
it.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Oh yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I think you know, for me it encompasses all forms of
communication.
Hi, bobby, it's like umfoundation is on observation and
listening and watching.
So so I went to school forvisual communication.
(35:00):
So I really wanted to do art ortheater, right, and mom was
like, oh well, you should dosomething that makes money
instead.
So how about design?
And little did she knoweverybody, and by the time I
became a designer would alsobecome a designer.
But so I took what I learnedthere and I went into printing,
(35:31):
where I was like really focusedin design work.
I went into cartography, whichis also very design, visual
communication.
I really lean towards visualcommunications early in my
career.
I love the idea that you canjust look at something and
understand what it means, andnot just you can look at it, but
somebody from across the worldwho speaks a different language
(35:54):
can look at it and understandwhat it means.
So iconography and um signageand that sort of just like okay,
quick communication.
But yeah, it was heavy too, youknow um, and I contracted with
(36:14):
them for a couple of years afterthat.
So it was essentially 10 yearsof every day of domestic
violence, sexual assaults, lowincome, no income, child care,
aging out of foster care courtappointed special advocates, um
(36:41):
court appointed specialadvocates, and then the social
justice programs.
So after about 10 years I waslike I'm gonna step down and go
towards art.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But I have this rich background from all those
experiences in printing anddesign and communication and
social justice that I can nowapply those to the art field and
to curation and to contractingwith people really despised my
(37:18):
mom in the beginning for keepingme away from art and making me
do design, but I came around toappreciate her in the end yeah,
I think it's incredible howsometimes we set out with this
desire, you know, be an artist,be in the art field, you kind of
take these adjacent detourswhich give you all this
incredible skill set, lifeexperience, perspective, and
(37:39):
then you come back to theoriginal dream, maybe stronger
than you would have if you hadset out that way to begin with.
Because, yeah, it's like you gotto make a living, you got to
eat and also you can do all ofthat and help people and
diversify, and I don't know.
(38:00):
I think it can be reallyhelpful and inspiring sometimes
for people to hear that it'sokay that you didn't just start
off with the same dream that youhad since you were a kid and
you can still, you know, have anamazing and even fuller life
than you expected and do.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
The dream's pretty cool yeah, I mean, I really
think that, like, if the pull isstrong enough, it it will come
back to you.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, you'll come back to it either way, I think
it's so interesting how, likewhat you're saying, like you
start with one thing and then,like your you know, art is so
fluid, like, how are you likealso dealing with, like domestic
violence and like all theseother things, and then it's like
circling back into like beingthis, I don't know like format
(38:46):
or like outline for differenttypes of inspiration for like
art or writing, or you know whatI mean, like all these things.
So, really cool.
We'd like to ask this um, wrapit kind of kind of at the end,
(39:18):
wrapping it up a little bit.
We'd like to know who is yourromani crush.
So this could be a romaniperson that you admire, either
just because they're cool orbecause maybe their art, maybe
their activism work, just kindof.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, someone um, so I'm gonna maybe cheat a little
bit.
It depends on how you should.
If you decide that I'm you,tell me.
If I'm cheating, I'm gonna pickmy um dead great-grandmother oh
.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Susie no, that's not cheating.
We love family.
What's about Susie?
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Susie.
Susie's the one that leftSlovakia.
Susie's the country girl thatmarried a city boy and left and
came to the United States, andevery everything I know about
her emits love and happiness.
And it's because of her that Iknow how to make Jadarniki,
(40:33):
which is a traditional Slovakfood, because I know how to make
breadcrumbs and noodles, whichis like a food that we would,
that the family would make, andit's because of her that there's
(40:54):
uh, I mean, she was my, she wasmy.
Uh, what did what?
Did they call him, uh,imaginary friend right before I
knew that she was a person in myfamily.
Uh, it was suzy.
That was there when I was alonein the grocery store, crying
because my mom had wandered offagain, or like, constantly
(41:19):
leaving me alone in the grocerystore oh, because this happens
to all of us, I think just likestanding there bawling, and
Susie is like she just appearsand she's like why are you
crying?
(41:41):
And I said because I'm all alone.
And she said I'm with you.
And I was like, okay, you are,who are you again?
And my mom came back and youknow, she was all like what's
going's going on?
And I'm fine.
Susie was with me and she'slike who?
(42:01):
And I described her.
Well, she asked me to describeher.
So, you know, she's just got adress and a little apron on and
she's about my size and hasbraids and like, okay, and then
the other element of that is I'mjust sharing, because I think
(42:26):
that you guys will love this.
Maybe not anyway, um, but Susie, I feel like Susie's always
been with me, right, right,she's just always been there for
me.
She's not just there for me,but she's there for Millie, who
is my great aunt, who I nevermet.
Millie ended her life in LakeMichigan six months before I was
(42:53):
born and I was.
We share the same birthday.
So, um, that was one of thethings you know when, when I had
that initial conversation withmy grandparents about who I was
(43:14):
in relation to well, they didn'tuse the word Roma in relation
to gypsies he said.
They said well, you'reobviously Millie reincarnated
and so I.
I, from that time, I've beengifted her.
You know when, whenever afamily member finds something
(43:36):
that was Millie's, they give meher things.
So I have her photo albums andher dress and I have her journal
and I feel connected to her andI feel like I feel like who
knows what goes out there inplaces that we can't see.
But I feel like I am livingMillie's second chance and
(44:08):
that's Susie who is.
I'm going to cry Because Susie,who is Millie's mom, is there
watching over her every minute.
So Susie's always been with meand she's my crush.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
That is so powerful.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, thank you yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Thanks for making a safe place to share it?
Speaker 1 (44:41):
No, of course, I've definitely heard stories like
that before of you know youngkids seeing their ancestors, but
also the reincarnation, and youknow the features or um
mannerisms that just feel sofamiliar to family.
And we have our final questionfor you.
(45:28):
That's so practical because welove to get people paid and love
to get attention paid to them.
What do you have coming up onthe horizon and how can people
support you and your work andwhere can they find you?
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yeah on the horizon.
I would still like to do thatexhibit of American Roma artists
, so I would encourage anyanybody who identifies as such
(46:06):
to reach out to me on Instagramat Sharonimus, and to, yeah,
just reach out and we can talkabout it.
I don't have any particulardates or plans or theme for the
show.
I just think it's a part of thepuzzle that needs exploring and
(46:30):
I'm going to help explore thatand make a space for it and make
a space for it Personally.
I'll just continue to exploreart as a form of connecting with
the voiceless, the nature, theparts of the world, the, the 99
(46:58):
that we can't see, or whateveryeah, people, sorry, what's your
website?
oh it's, it's pretty outdated,but it is is SMSVCcom, smsvccom
(47:20):
and, yeah, I think, justsupporting each other.
Man, you know, like I just lovethat, I just love seeing people
connecting.
And I don't know what's goingto happen with the Instagrams
and the social medias and allthe platforms, but don't be
(47:47):
discouraged.
I've been discouraged becauseI've reached out to people right
, and have been flatlined or Idon't know what the terminology
is but no response.
But don't give up, because Ididn't give up and then I met
Loralee, and then I got to dothis great exhibit on Chayas
(48:09):
Tuika and now I'm getting tospend this time with you.
So just keep doing your thing.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Yeah, that's good advice.
It's important to be persistent, especially in the arts.
But yeah, you got to bepersistent.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Thank you so much for sharing all of that intimate
information and I really justappreciate you getting so real
with us, like that's why we dothis, you know, and I think it
takes a lot of courage and, yeah, I appreciate all the work that
you're doing and all thepublicity that you're bringing
to like real you know, romathings, I guess.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
Yeah, Can I tell you about some of the.
I forgot to mention some of theevents that are occurring with
the March exhibit.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Yeah, please do.
You have a lot of really coolevents planned and also
listeners.
Please listen to our interviewwith Laura Lee about Chaya
Stoica's exhibit and Karina too,they're both on that episode,
but please tell us what.
What will happen?
Speaker 3 (49:16):
yeah, so there are a ton of events.
I have a um.
The first one is the openingreception.
That's gonna be, uh, just a funreception.
March 7th, from 4 to 8.
The artist talk is march 15th,from 1 to two, and Daniel's
(49:37):
going to zoom in and Sam's goingto be there.
We're going to have panelists,dial, laura Lee will talk about
Chaya's work, and on March 19that five, a presentation and
workshop called CriticalThinking on Media Information
and Power, called CriticalThinking on Media Information
(49:57):
and Power, on March 22nd Ibelieve I'm still getting the
time figured out Under the GreenGreen Grass Beneath, which is a
documentary on Shia Stoica,will be playing at the theater
that's just around the cornerfrom the gallery Cool, I don't
know if you've heard of the filmFrom Ground Zero, but it
(50:22):
features 22 short films, all byPalestinian directors, and it's
documentaries, fiction,animation, experimental films.
It was conceived by aPalestinian director who, after
october 7th, was like we need tomake sure that the arts
(50:43):
continue, and so he reached outwithin the community there.
And, yeah, 22 short films andone after another.
From ground zero.
It came out last year, Ibelieve.
And then, lastly, I have aRomani Holocaust presentation by
(51:05):
Carol Silverman on March 29that 5.
Pm.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Wow, that's a fantastic lineup.
That's so great yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
I couldn't stop.
There were so many goodsuggestions and I was like let's
do it, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
That's good.
It'll get lots of people comingin and having different types
of experiences there.
I think that's fantastic.
Actually, we would be remissnot to mention in our last
episode we announced our Welcometo Ramana Sound Festival and
that is taking place March 28thto March 30th and we have all
(51:44):
kinds of super exciting thingsgoing on.
So the first one will be soit's in New Orleans.
So if you're in New Orleans orif you want to be in New Orleans
, you know, come see us please.
I'll just kind of run throughthe list of events quickly, but
you can find everything onromanisanpodcastcom.
We have a festival tab, butwe'll start off strong on the
(52:09):
28th, 1130 in the morning aspart of the Tennessee Williams
Festival panel.
The morning as part of theTennessee Williams Festival
panel, and Paulina and I will betalking about Romani tropes and
contributions in pop culturewith Ilva Mara Rajazhevsky, who
is also known as Bimbo Yaga andis helping us produce the event.
Then that night at seven we'llbe hosting Tales from Romanistan
(52:33):
at Cafe Istanbul and we'll be alive recording of the podcast.
We'll have musicians andperformers Zarina Hellfire, moon
Bear, millie, raccoon, bimboYaga and Victor, our own
Romanistan musician.
Then the next day, on the 29thwe'll be doing a Secrets of
Romani Fortune Telling pop-up atMystic by Cottage Magic.
(52:58):
Secrets of Romani FortuneTelling pop up at Mystic by
Cottage Magic, and that will beme and Paulina reading tarot
palms and Paulina givingwellness consultations as well.
That night we're doingStewarding Traditions, a
literary salon hosted by Wisersorry, sponsored by Wiser Books,
with Lilith Dorsey, who's anamazing author, and me and
Paulina, and we'll be talkingabout ancestral traditions.
(53:20):
And then the next day, tarotand Ancestor Communication
Workshop.
Paulina and I have taught thisbefore and we're teaching it
again at Mystic by Cottage Magic.
And then Bebe's Kitchen is ourfinal event, a culinary ritual,
and that'll also be part of theTennessee Williams Festival and
(53:40):
it's hosted by Ilva and MoonBear and Paulina and I will be
offering tea leaf reading.
So please sign up for thefestival, come to our events,
spread the word.
We definitely need help gettingthe word out.
We're super excited to beoffering our first festival and
long story, short short.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
There's nothing we won't be doing.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Okay, basically everything okay, two events a
day, every day, every day, allday, every day, no sleep very,
very awesome though that is socool.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
I loved hearing about that.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
That's, that's happening it's gonna be so fun.
We can't wait.
Yeah, so y'all can sign up atromanasunpodcastcom.
Send all your New Orleansfriends the information too.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here with us, sharon.
We had such a lovely timetalking with you.
We wish we could be at theexhibit.
If we could teleport to all ofthe cool events that people are
(54:36):
doing all over the world, wewould, um, and yeah, feel free
to tag us in any posts and we'rehappy to share them cool, thank
you.
Speaker 3 (54:44):
Thank you so much for the talk.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Oh my gosh, our pleasure yeah, thank you so much
and see you later.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
Thank you for listening to romanistan podcast
you can find us on instagram,tiktok and Facebook at RamanaSan
Podcast and on Twitter atRamanaSanPod.
To support us, join our Patreonfor extra content or just
donate to our Ko-Fi fundraiser,ko-ficom backslash RamanaSan,
(55:30):
and please rate, review andsubscribe.
It helps people find our show.
It helps us so much.
Speaker 2 (55:35):
You can follow Jez on Instagram at jasminavantila,
and paulina at romaniholistic.
You can get our book Secrets ofRomani Fortune Telling online
or wherever books are sold.
Visit romanistanpodcastcom forevents, educational resources
and more.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
Email us at romanistanpodcast at gmailcom
for inquiries Romanistan ishosted by Jasmina Vontila and
Paulina Stevens, conceived of byPaulina Stevens, edited by
Victor Pachas, with music byVictor Pachas and artwork by
Elijah Barado.
We have a content warning.
At 42 minutes begins a storythat makes mention of suicide.
If you would prefer to skip it,fast forward to 44 minutes.
If you listen and you feeltriggered or in any way unsafe,
please reach out to your network, your support system, your
(00:22):
therapist.
We will also have a link tosome different suicide hotlines
that don't call the police.
And then there is, of course,988, if you are in America.
So take a look at the shownotes if you need them.
Take care of yourself, you arenot alone along.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome to Romanistan .
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're your friendly neighborhood gypsies.
I'm Paulina and I'm Jez.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And today we're here with Sharon Svek.
Sharon is many things, butevery iteration is laid with the
foundation of an artist,whether through visits to the
Art Institute of Chicago or toher grandfather's workbench.
She was exposed to artregularly.
She framed her life with aneducation, career and practices
centered on creativity andmaintained through cultural
respect.
Sharon earned an MFA at theSouthern Illinois University in
(01:31):
2000, with degrees in visualcommunication and professional
media practice.
She also studied and performedregularly with the theater
department.
Sharon worked in printing,publishing and communication.
In 2010, she found meaning at asocial justice organization
where she led communicationefforts for seven programs over
eight years.
(01:52):
Today, sharon manages threegalleries and is contracted with
the City of Vancouver toorganize an exhibit for their
2025 Arts and Music Festival,for their 2025 Arts and Music
Festival, shifting betweenperformance and visual arts.
Sharon has been exhibiting herworks since about 1990.
(02:13):
So, yay, thank you for being onthe show.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
We're so happy to have you, so tell us a little
more about yourself.
Where are you from?
Where's your family from?
What's your visa Share with?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
us?
Yes, okay, so I was born inSouthern Illinois, which is not
Chicago, but my parents are fromChicago, so they didn't know
each other.
They moved down thereseparately and then had my
brother and myself down there inSouthern Illinois and we would
(02:52):
travel to Chicago regularly.
I do mention visiting the ArtInstitute of Chicago, so my
parents, my grandparents, werestill up there.
Let's see, that's where I'mfrom.
My family is from Chicago.
Prior to that, they're from, uh, slovakia.
Well, current day Slovakia, itwas Austria, hungary at the time
(03:14):
, and, um, poland and Sweden,who is the only one that I know
for sure, 100% is Romani is fromwhat's?
Current day Central Slovakia.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I want to ask our favorite question Do you
consider yourself a rebel, andwhy yes or no?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
why yes or no?
Yeah, so, uh, sometimes,sometimes I'm rebellious.
Uh, I think I'm not rebelliousjust for the sake of being
rebellious, but when, uh, itfeels like the right thing to do
right like when I ran away fromhome, I suppose that was
rebellious it seemed like theright thing to do right, like
when I ran away from home, Isuppose that was rebellious it
seemed like the right thing todo that kind of stuff.
But, uh, but no, I'm notrebellious just for the sake of
(04:17):
it.
So does that capture?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
that you're following your heart we have these
conversations and it's like whatis even like rebellious, like I
guess it depends on how youwere raised.
You know, yeah, going to schoolwas rebellious for me growing
up right super great yeah, whenit goes against the norm.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I guess I have gone against the norm a number of
times, but not all the times soyou are curating an art exhibit
titled seeking warmth at art inthe cave this march um.
Seeking warmth is the name ofthe show, listeners, and art at
the cave is the gallery.
Please tell us about it andyour inspiration for it.
(05:02):
We're so excited, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Well, my inspiration is in thinking about.
You know, we mentioned in theintroduction that you read my
time at the social justice group.
So that was YWCA Clark Countyjustice age group.
(05:29):
So that was a YWCA Clark Countyand the.
You know their mission iseliminating racism, empowering
women and promoting peace,justice and freedom and dignity
for all.
They have YWCA's CAs aredifferent everywhere in what
programs they have, and this onehad multiple different programs
, but they were all under thatmission, right?
So, as the communications personI was, everything was going
(05:50):
under that mission and I learneda lot about social justice and
about institutional racism andall of that good stuff.
And I learned how important itis to diversify people in places
of power, right, because whenyou diversify people in places
(06:12):
of power, you diversify theresults that come out of those
places.
So, after years of trying toget a position of power through
traditional work methods, Idecided screw it, I'm going to
(06:34):
follow my heart and go to theart side of things.
And then I ended up in aposition of power and that was
weird, so, um.
So I thought, well, I want touse my unique perspectives to
help shape the outcomes of this,these spaces that I'm working
in and uh, so I have.
(06:57):
You know, we all have uniqueperspectives.
Mine are really stemming frommy family influence and, like my
just personal experience, andone of those many, many aspects
is my interest in the Romahistory of my family on my dad's
(07:17):
side, and I wanted to share thevoice of Roma.
Share the voice of Roma.
In my personal experience, Iexperienced a lot of the things
that I've heard other of yourguests experience, like othering
(07:39):
and assumptions about who youare and what your race or
ethnicity is, and and it wasn'tnecessarily related to me being
Roma, because they didn't knowthat, that was in my background,
because I wouldn't share thatinformation, but it still
influenced me and internally, Iwas experiencing that um and
(08:02):
that conflict between, like ohwell, well, grandpa said I
shouldn't talk about this.
I mean I could if I wanted to.
It's gonna make life moredifficult, and so, like, all
these things are going in myhead.
But then, yeah, when I became,when I came into the art world
and I felt comfortable in mycareer, I was like, okay, okay,
(08:26):
I'm gonna, I'm gonna start doingwhat I always wanted to do, and
one of those things that Ialways wanted to do was elevate
the voice of Roma and let peopleknow that we are more than more
than a trope.
Know that whole thing.
That's what inspired uh me toit, like from the spark, right.
(08:52):
But how am I gonna do this?
I don't feel like I want to puttogether a show and be like,
look at me, um.
So I tried to reach out toothers and you guys actually
helped me with that.
With a post a few years ago,you shared a post and I was
looking for american romaartists and I didn't get very
(09:15):
many replies.
So I'm like, okay, well, this,you know it's not time for this
yet, clearly so.
And then I heard your interviewwith Chaya Stoica International
Association and I was like, oh,and there's their email address
, oh.
And so I emailed them and I waslike, hey, just so you know, I
(09:41):
run a few galleries and if youever want to collaborate, just
let reach out.
And Laura Lee reached out andshe was like so I'm just across
the river from you, would youlike to get together?
And that was just incredibleand awesome.
And we started talking and itbecame a real possibility.
(10:03):
So it just snowballed fromthere.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I pulled in a couple other artists and yeah, that's
the foundation of that Cool.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
What drew you to the artists you're including right
now?
I was drawn to.
I mean, I was familiar withChaya's work just from my
research online already, so, andthen the accessibility is
really what secured my interestin that.
Sam Morican, whose series iscalled the Madness of War.
(11:01):
She started painting theseimages after October 7th 2023.
And these, I mean they're likeI don't know if you saw the
website or I sent you the link,but they're pretty intense
paintings.
She's on like 70 or 80 now ofthese drawings and paintings
(11:28):
depicting the madness of war and, um, I was familiar with her as
an artist and, um, her passionreally lies in media
representation and propagandaand how it's, you know, really
(11:50):
curved and curated to thattarget audience.
And it seemed like a good fit,because Chaya's work would not
fill the whole gallery.
It's a big space.
What I would have access towould not fill the whole space
and, uh, her work seemed like ajust great modern compliment to
(12:12):
it.
And I was reading Chaya'smemoirs and there's a line in
there a couple times shementions how she sought warmth
in and in and amongst the deadbodies and that was like a safe
(12:34):
place for her.
Um, she could stay warm and,you know, she kind of became
friends with them and she wouldtake care of them and move their
chins up when they fell and fixtheir whatever's their clothes
and talk with them and spendtime with them.
(12:57):
And you know, she was seekingphysical warmth and emotional
warmth among the dead, and I wasreally, really drawn to that
idea and so I named the showSeeking Warmth.
(13:18):
And the next thing that came tomind was Daniel Baker's
emergency artifacts series,where he uses emergency blankets
the silver blankets to weavethese just beautiful pieces he
(13:40):
also makes.
He's made like a bodysuit andlike a little doll looking thing
from them.
And it made me think of aninterview I heard a long time
ago I don't know if it wasKatrina or what the situation
was, but some interview I heardand they were like, yeah, so
(14:04):
emergency blankets were like anew thing.
And they were like, oh, yeah,they're sending us emergency
blankets Like that's great, it'snot what we need, it's not like
this is another Band-Aid.
So I just really love that.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I don't know it, just all, or listeners, actually,
and readers.
You can find them.
You can still order it.
It's not super easy to get, butit's translated by Laura Lee
French if you are an Englishspeaker.
But, yeah, we are so excited tosee how this show comes
together.
What are the exact dates of theshow?
(15:05):
March 4th through 29th Awesome.
So, yeah, you have most ofMarch to go see the show and we
actually have clips from artistsDaniel Baker and Sam.
Is it Marroquin?
Yep, yeah, and Sam Marroquinright now.
So we're going to insert themdue to editorial magic.
(15:27):
So enjoy listening to theirwords about their work and their
inspiration for the show.
And just to clarify tolisteners who are on the lookout
for artists sam is not a romaniartist dan and chaya are romani
artists hello.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Hello, I'm Sam Motorkin.
Thank you for taking the timeto talk about this art exhibit
Seeking Warmth.
It is an honor to be includedwith Chaya Stoica and Daniel
Baker in this collection ofartwork, curated by Sharon Speck
, that examines the need foremotional and physical warmth in
times of oppression.
The need for emotional andphysical warmth in times of
(16:06):
oppression.
When I was a young child, myparents always watched the
evening news and I would seeclips of people fighting in
distant countries.
My mother and father would givevague answers when I asked
about it.
The attacks, blood andterrorized people were always
illogical in my developing mind,and they still are.
Why couldn't they just getalong?
(16:27):
The terrifying truth of war isthe stench of burned flesh, the
cries of those slowly dyingunder the rubble and long
trenches filled with corpses.
Sadly, we live in a world wheremorality no longer matters and
historical amnesia plagues theatmosphere.
Regardless of what side you areon, the results are agony
(16:52):
Through charcoal and paint.
I challenge my viewers.
Can seeing the effects ofviolence upon innocent people
change our perspective ofconflict?
Cutting through the opinions,noise and illusions of mass
media, I focus on humanity.
This body of work centers onPalestine.
However, my subjects transcenda precise time and place.
(17:14):
I choose for my paintings torepresent combat from almost
anywhere in the world.
Deeply troubled by the currentconflict, I was moved to draw
and paint moments of extremefear, pain and suffering,
depicting times of endlesswaiting, the instant a bomb
explodes, loved ones grapplingwith loss or sifting through the
rubble that was once a home.
(17:35):
I seek to bear witness to theimpacts of war.
We are subject to the constantand sophisticated manipulation
of reality and the exclusion ofsignificant topics by the news
media.
The capitalistic interests ofthese agencies influence the
stories that are told and theways that they are framed.
This distortion in the newscauses people to align
(17:57):
themselves with certain factionsor politics without even
knowing the facts or history ofthe situation.
For inspiration, I look to thecoverage of journalists and
photographers who are actuallyon the ground amidst the
fighting and destruction.
To shape these pieces, I makequick and abstract sketches with
my non-dominant hand, relyingon a combination of contour and
(18:20):
line contour drawing.
Then I add detail by paintingit in with acrylic colors,
capturing the dusty orsmoke-filled air of the combat
zone or the stark mood ofsurvivors.
My blocky handwritten text addsanother visual element, drawing
attention to the underlyingintent of my composition and
perhaps a window into what thesepeople are going through.
(18:44):
Creating these paintings is noteasy.
Researching closely, followingthe news and portraying the
violence and destruction in mycompositions is difficult work,
both technically and emotionally.
Reading Stoica's memoir wasdeeply moving for me.
Learning about experiences suchas hers and what they endured
(19:07):
is vital.
Whether examining the horrorsof the Romani Holocaust,
armenian Genocide or the ethniccleansing of Native Americans,
we must acknowledge andcontinually learn from our past.
Currently, the occupation ofPalestine, extreme violence in
Haiti, war in Sudan and forcedmigration and deportation around
(19:30):
the globe are just a few of themass atrocities that we face.
Revealing the truth of theseand other stories through my
paintings becomes a way oflooking at our history as we
build for future generations.
I, like Stoica and many others,have hoped that someday we can
live in a world free ofoppression and social injustice.
(19:52):
In one of her poems, stoicawrites my wish for the world is
that people pay attention and gothrough the world with open
eyes and see that something likethis never happens again.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
My name is Daniel Baker and I'm an artist from a
Romary family in England.
The works on display in SeekingWarmth are from my Emergency
Artifact series, whichtransforms Mylar rescue blankets
into objects of various forms.
This set of six abstract workson show are intentionally
ambiguous in their appearancebut retain the possibility of
(20:49):
functionality by echoing thesize and form of placemats that
you might find on a domesticdining table in the home.
By bringing together materialsassociated with danger and
crisis and juxtaposing them withforms that speak of comfort and
sustenance, I am encouragingthe viewer to think about the
precarious nature of the safetythat many of us take for granted
.
This series echoes some otherworks that are made in a similar
(21:09):
way, called Survival Blankets,which again draw together the
contrasting associations ofdanger found in the materiality
of rescue foil and the idea ofcomfort conveyed by the hand
crocheted blanket.
(21:36):
My art practice is greatlyinformed by my experience of
growing up in a Romani familyhome.
The ornate decor of our livingspace had a lasting effect on me
in my journey as an artist.
The ways in which the domesticinterior conveyed the narratives
and values of our communitythrough objects and materials
made a big impact on me from ayoung age, and the experiences
(21:57):
and questions set in motion thenstill seem relevant to me today
.
I believe that the Romaaesthetic is the main site of
cultural agency for Roma people.
Another way of thinking aboutRoma aesthetics is to think in
terms of Roma visual culture.
This is important because, inthe absence of a literary
tradition, for hundreds of years, visuality became the primary
(22:18):
vehicle of culturalcommunication and social
exchange.
Romalives have historicallybeen narrated, informed and
reflected through visual culture, and I believe that this is
(22:47):
where our culture are crucial tocommunicating their values and
preoccupations to the widerworld.
Roman aesthetics is a usefulexample to other cultures
because it has originated from atraditionally nomadic culture
which has been essentiallynon-literary and therefore is
perhaps more acutely honed as aninstrument of social agency.
In terms of aesthetics, thework I make is intended to
(23:09):
generate an experientialresponse.
This ties in with my ownexperience of Roman material
culture, where objects conveymeaning and narrative through
their materiality and their form, much of which is rooted in
Roma heritage and Romatraditions.
The idea of seeking warmth isexplored within my work in the
(23:38):
exhibition through the ambiguityof the objects that I make,
where the possibilities ofcomfort and sustenance are
undercut by my use of precariousmaterials and the fragility of
their manufacture.
I hope that my work encouragesviewers to think about the
precarious nature of ourexistence and the safety and
stability that we all take forgranted off topic, I love the
(24:26):
shirt that you're wearing.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I actually ordered the blue one from you, which I
wear and get compliments on allthe time.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yay, yeah oh, it's your own design.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, thank you it's I have the same one in blue oh
my gosh um.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Can we describe it for the audio listeners?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
yeah, um, I can try it's.
Uh, it's like almost like clawmarks.
Would that be accurate?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
yes, yeah, or like stripes are really cool yeah and
um.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They come in different colors it's like a
lavender, pink, purple, likeclaw marks, and it's like a
white shirt.
It's long sleeve, but it's alsoa crop top yeah, and it's
really loose and comfortable andit's like a good quality cotton
, um, and I've been meaning topost about it, but I wear it and
then I'm like, oh, and then Ijust wear it, and then I change
(25:30):
and I'm like now it's dirty, butI just washed it again, so I
will post it soon yeah it'sreally comfortable, really nice,
definitely check it out.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I love that.
Actually, that seguesbeautifully into our next
question, because you work in alot of different mediums.
I mean, we've been looking atyour work for years now and what
drives you to create and whatdo your different art forms
offer you?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
yeah, stress.
And what do your different artforms offer you?
Yeah, stress Relatable.
So I tend to create a lot whenI just have a lot going on and
(26:18):
need a brain break and I need totake care of myself when I need
to reflect and decompress.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Do you want to share what your mediums are, just for
anyone who's not familiar withyour work?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
yeah, I um, since 20, shucks, 20, I don't even know
2013, since 2013, I've beenworking with a product called
solar fast and you can use thatto.
It's like cyanotypes, um, whereyou're using the sun to expose
images onto fabric.
(26:57):
So I started doing tapestrieswith those and there's like a
photo that is the base and thenI'll do a spray paint stencil on
top of it to kind of providecontext for the photo.
And then I started to like gointo clothing, just like
(27:22):
fiddling around with nature.
So one of the last things thatI did was, um, take the flowers
of a smoke tree and tie themtogether into clouds and then I
hung them so they just likedrift around.
They're like little naturalcloudy things, but it's
(27:45):
something that like.
As I'm wrapping those, I feellike all of these elements
include nature.
I'll do basket weavingsometimes.
Right now I'm writing onto um.
It's not echinacea, it'seucalyptus leaves.
(28:08):
It's like a um, it's like acommunication.
It's like a uh spell, right,it's like a.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It's a way to ask the universe questions and get
answers what do you want theworld to know or appreciate
(28:45):
about romani art?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
um, but I first want to say that I really love
daniel's response to a similarquestion and whatever he said I
want to echo that because Idon't remember the exact words,
but I remember hearing it and Iwas like, yes, um, he's far more
eloquent in his response thanI'm going to be, but I think
(29:15):
that, uh, I think that Romaniart is as diverse as its people
and, um, I want people to see itas a proof, like proof of
existence.
Um, it's the voice that's fromthe people.
(29:42):
It, uh, it can reflect thewhole gamut of experience, of
trauma, from somebody who isdeeply ingrained in traditional
culture to someone who'sprobably more separated, um,
(30:03):
which I might fall more on thatend of it and, uh, it's so.
It's a tool.
It like the more people thatput it out there it's a tool to
find commonalities between eachother and to compare and to
(30:25):
contrast and all the things thatart does for humanity.
Anyway, just in a concentratedspace.
Yeah, I think there's somecommonalities in.
I was trying to see if therewas.
You know, there's this newaccount, roma Aesthetic, and
(30:46):
Daniel talks a lot about theRoma Aesthetic and I was kind of
thinking about what that is andwhat I observe.
One thing that I observe, orthat I like a lot, is the
resourcefulness.
I have all these things that mygrandpa used to say right, like
swimming in my head, and one isuh, if you can't, if you can't
(31:13):
make it or trade for it, youprobably don't need it or trade
for it, you probably don't needit, and it's so.
It's such a like to me.
It's such a Roma thing to sayum, and I see that in the art a
(31:48):
lot and I want to.
Actually I have a piece here Iwanted to show you that was his.
He made a whole village and umbridges and windmills and um a
woodshed and all these pieces.
Look at the little, the littleblue roses in the pieces.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Look at the little, the little blue roses.
And that is so sweet.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Oh my gosh it's this tiny little, tiny little
structure, and he ended upmaking me like a giant dollhouse
of this too, but it's all madefrom.
He would walk up to the cornerstore and he would get the
discarded fruit boxes out of thetrash and take them home and
make a whole new world with themthat's so cool yeah, really
(32:24):
really like beautiful anddetailed, extremely detailed,
yeah and there's so many otherlike artists today that I see
doing that.
Um, I don't know if I'm sayingher name right, but Gosia Mirga
a genius yeah, yeah oh my gosh,yeah, we're such Selma fans
(32:48):
totally.
I mean, I use a lot of, like Isaid, nature, whatever's lying
around, uh, some more um localartists, american artists, uh,
lucy doe duncan and richardscoriander heart.
(33:11):
I just I love it.
I love seeing all the, all theways that we can come together
through art.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It's a very beautiful thing.
I also for listeners.
I don't know if we've actuallytalked about this on the podcast
.
We did post about it, but gosee.
America has a a display on theoh what's it called?
The High Line in New New York.
So if you're in New York,please go to the High Line.
(33:42):
It's a lovely walk and you getto see her beautiful artwork,
which is such a big deal.
I lost my mind when I saw thatshe's displayed there, because
it just feels like so muchprogress.
Like we don't usually see Romaart in public spaces Anywhere.
Yeah, and it's so exciting tohave a Roma exhibit at a gallery
too.
Like it's just like these aresuch wonderful markers for
(34:05):
progress and it's also areminder that we can support
Romani culture.
Like, whatever our specialtiesand interests are.
You know, we always have a wayto kind of shine a light on our
community, totally.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Yeah, are you know?
Speaker 1 (34:20):
we always have a way to kind of shine a light on our
community.
And yeah, you are also acommunication specialist, which
sounds really interesting.
Can you share a little bitabout that aspect of your career
, what that entails, what youlike about?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
it.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Oh yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I think you know, for me it encompasses all forms of
communication.
Hi, bobby, it's like umfoundation is on observation and
listening and watching.
So so I went to school forvisual communication.
(35:00):
So I really wanted to do art ortheater, right, and mom was
like, oh well, you should dosomething that makes money
instead.
So how about design?
And little did she knoweverybody, and by the time I
became a designer would alsobecome a designer.
But so I took what I learnedthere and I went into printing,
(35:31):
where I was like really focusedin design work.
I went into cartography, whichis also very design, visual
communication.
I really lean towards visualcommunications early in my
career.
I love the idea that you canjust look at something and
understand what it means, andnot just you can look at it, but
somebody from across the worldwho speaks a different language
(35:54):
can look at it and understandwhat it means.
So iconography and um signageand that sort of just like okay,
quick communication.
But yeah, it was heavy too, youknow um, and I contracted with
(36:14):
them for a couple of years afterthat.
So it was essentially 10 yearsof every day of domestic
violence, sexual assaults, lowincome, no income, child care,
aging out of foster care courtappointed special advocates, um
(36:41):
court appointed specialadvocates, and then the social
justice programs.
So after about 10 years I waslike I'm gonna step down and go
towards art.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But I have this rich background from all those
experiences in printing anddesign and communication and
social justice that I can nowapply those to the art field and
to curation and to contractingwith people really despised my
(37:18):
mom in the beginning for keepingme away from art and making me
do design, but I came around toappreciate her in the end yeah,
I think it's incredible howsometimes we set out with this
desire, you know, be an artist,be in the art field, you kind of
take these adjacent detourswhich give you all this
incredible skill set, lifeexperience, perspective, and
(37:39):
then you come back to theoriginal dream, maybe stronger
than you would have if you hadset out that way to begin with.
Because, yeah, it's like you gotto make a living, you got to
eat and also you can do all ofthat and help people and
diversify, and I don't know.
(38:00):
I think it can be reallyhelpful and inspiring sometimes
for people to hear that it'sokay that you didn't just start
off with the same dream that youhad since you were a kid and
you can still, you know, have anamazing and even fuller life
than you expected and do.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
The dream's pretty cool yeah, I mean, I really
think that, like, if the pull isstrong enough, it it will come
back to you.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, you'll come back to it either way, I think
it's so interesting how, likewhat you're saying, like you
start with one thing and then,like your you know, art is so
fluid, like, how are you likealso dealing with, like domestic
violence and like all theseother things, and then it's like
circling back into like beingthis, I don't know like format
(38:46):
or like outline for differenttypes of inspiration for like
art or writing, or you know whatI mean, like all these things.
So, really cool.
We'd like to ask this um, wrapit kind of kind of at the end,
(39:18):
wrapping it up a little bit.
We'd like to know who is yourromani crush.
So this could be a romaniperson that you admire, either
just because they're cool orbecause maybe their art, maybe
their activism work, just kindof.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, someone um, so I'm gonna maybe cheat a little
bit.
It depends on how you should.
If you decide that I'm you,tell me.
If I'm cheating, I'm gonna pickmy um dead great-grandmother oh
.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Susie no, that's not cheating.
We love family.
What's about Susie?
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Susie.
Susie's the one that leftSlovakia.
Susie's the country girl thatmarried a city boy and left and
came to the United States, andevery everything I know about
her emits love and happiness.
And it's because of her that Iknow how to make Jadarniki,
(40:33):
which is a traditional Slovakfood, because I know how to make
breadcrumbs and noodles, whichis like a food that we would,
that the family would make, andit's because of her that there's
(40:54):
uh, I mean, she was my, she wasmy.
Uh, what did what?
Did they call him, uh,imaginary friend right before I
knew that she was a person in myfamily.
Uh, it was suzy.
That was there when I was alonein the grocery store, crying
because my mom had wandered offagain, or like, constantly
(41:19):
leaving me alone in the grocerystore oh, because this happens
to all of us, I think just likestanding there bawling, and
Susie is like she just appearsand she's like why are you
crying?
(41:41):
And I said because I'm all alone.
And she said I'm with you.
And I was like, okay, you are,who are you again?
And my mom came back and youknow, she was all like what's
going's going on?
And I'm fine.
Susie was with me and she'slike who?
(42:01):
And I described her.
Well, she asked me to describeher.
So, you know, she's just got adress and a little apron on and
she's about my size and hasbraids and like, okay, and then
the other element of that is I'mjust sharing, because I think
(42:26):
that you guys will love this.
Maybe not anyway, um, but Susie, I feel like Susie's always
been with me, right, right,she's just always been there for
me.
She's not just there for me,but she's there for Millie, who
is my great aunt, who I nevermet.
Millie ended her life in LakeMichigan six months before I was
(42:53):
born and I was.
We share the same birthday.
So, um, that was one of thethings you know when, when I had
that initial conversation withmy grandparents about who I was
(43:14):
in relation to well, they didn'tuse the word Roma in relation
to gypsies he said.
They said well, you'reobviously Millie reincarnated
and so I.
I, from that time, I've beengifted her.
You know when, whenever afamily member finds something
(43:36):
that was Millie's, they give meher things.
So I have her photo albums andher dress and I have her journal
and I feel connected to her andI feel like I feel like who
knows what goes out there inplaces that we can't see.
But I feel like I am livingMillie's second chance and
(44:08):
that's Susie who is.
I'm going to cry Because Susie,who is Millie's mom, is there
watching over her every minute.
So Susie's always been with meand she's my crush.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
That is so powerful.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, thank you yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Thanks for making a safe place to share it?
Speaker 1 (44:41):
No, of course, I've definitely heard stories like
that before of you know youngkids seeing their ancestors, but
also the reincarnation, and youknow the features or um
mannerisms that just feel sofamiliar to family.
And we have our final questionfor you.
(45:28):
That's so practical because welove to get people paid and love
to get attention paid to them.
What do you have coming up onthe horizon and how can people
support you and your work andwhere can they find you?
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yeah on the horizon.
I would still like to do thatexhibit of American Roma artists
, so I would encourage anyanybody who identifies as such
(46:06):
to reach out to me on Instagramat Sharonimus, and to, yeah,
just reach out and we can talkabout it.
I don't have any particulardates or plans or theme for the
show.
I just think it's a part of thepuzzle that needs exploring and
(46:30):
I'm going to help explore thatand make a space for it and make
a space for it Personally.
I'll just continue to exploreart as a form of connecting with
the voiceless, the nature, theparts of the world, the, the 99
(46:58):
that we can't see, or whateveryeah, people, sorry, what's your
website?
oh it's, it's pretty outdated,but it is is SMSVCcom, smsvccom
(47:20):
and, yeah, I think, justsupporting each other.
Man, you know, like I just lovethat, I just love seeing people
connecting.
And I don't know what's goingto happen with the Instagrams
and the social medias and allthe platforms, but don't be
(47:47):
discouraged.
I've been discouraged becauseI've reached out to people right
, and have been flatlined or Idon't know what the terminology
is but no response.
But don't give up, because Ididn't give up and then I met
Loralee, and then I got to dothis great exhibit on Chayas
(48:09):
Tuika and now I'm getting tospend this time with you.
So just keep doing your thing.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Yeah, that's good advice.
It's important to be persistent, especially in the arts.
But yeah, you got to bepersistent.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Thank you so much for sharing all of that intimate
information and I really justappreciate you getting so real
with us, like that's why we dothis, you know, and I think it
takes a lot of courage and, yeah, I appreciate all the work that
you're doing and all thepublicity that you're bringing
to like real you know, romathings, I guess.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
Yeah, Can I tell you about some of the.
I forgot to mention some of theevents that are occurring with
the March exhibit.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Yeah, please do.
You have a lot of really coolevents planned and also
listeners.
Please listen to our interviewwith Laura Lee about Chaya
Stoica's exhibit and Karina too,they're both on that episode,
but please tell us what.
What will happen?
Speaker 3 (49:16):
yeah, so there are a ton of events.
I have a um.
The first one is the openingreception.
That's gonna be, uh, just a funreception.
March 7th, from 4 to 8.
The artist talk is march 15th,from 1 to two, and Daniel's
(49:37):
going to zoom in and Sam's goingto be there.
We're going to have panelists,dial, laura Lee will talk about
Chaya's work, and on March 19that five, a presentation and
workshop called CriticalThinking on Media Information
and Power, called CriticalThinking on Media Information
(49:57):
and Power, on March 22nd Ibelieve I'm still getting the
time figured out Under the GreenGreen Grass Beneath, which is a
documentary on Shia Stoica,will be playing at the theater
that's just around the cornerfrom the gallery Cool, I don't
know if you've heard of the filmFrom Ground Zero, but it
(50:22):
features 22 short films, all byPalestinian directors, and it's
documentaries, fiction,animation, experimental films.
It was conceived by aPalestinian director who, after
october 7th, was like we need tomake sure that the arts
(50:43):
continue, and so he reached outwithin the community there.
And, yeah, 22 short films andone after another.
From ground zero.
It came out last year, Ibelieve.
And then, lastly, I have aRomani Holocaust presentation by
(51:05):
Carol Silverman on March 29that 5.
Pm.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Wow, that's a fantastic lineup.
That's so great yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
I couldn't stop.
There were so many goodsuggestions and I was like let's
do it, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
That's good.
It'll get lots of people comingin and having different types
of experiences there.
I think that's fantastic.
Actually, we would be remissnot to mention in our last
episode we announced our Welcometo Ramana Sound Festival and
that is taking place March 28thto March 30th and we have all
(51:44):
kinds of super exciting thingsgoing on.
So the first one will be soit's in New Orleans.
So if you're in New Orleans orif you want to be in New Orleans
, you know, come see us please.
I'll just kind of run throughthe list of events quickly, but
you can find everything onromanisanpodcastcom.
We have a festival tab, butwe'll start off strong on the
(52:09):
28th, 1130 in the morning aspart of the Tennessee Williams
Festival panel.
The morning as part of theTennessee Williams Festival
panel, and Paulina and I will betalking about Romani tropes and
contributions in pop culturewith Ilva Mara Rajazhevsky, who
is also known as Bimbo Yaga andis helping us produce the event.
Then that night at seven we'llbe hosting Tales from Romanistan
(52:33):
at Cafe Istanbul and we'll be alive recording of the podcast.
We'll have musicians andperformers Zarina Hellfire, moon
Bear, millie, raccoon, bimboYaga and Victor, our own
Romanistan musician.
Then the next day, on the 29thwe'll be doing a Secrets of
Romani Fortune Telling pop-up atMystic by Cottage Magic.
(52:58):
Secrets of Romani FortuneTelling pop up at Mystic by
Cottage Magic, and that will beme and Paulina reading tarot
palms and Paulina givingwellness consultations as well.
That night we're doingStewarding Traditions, a
literary salon hosted by Wisersorry, sponsored by Wiser Books,
with Lilith Dorsey, who's anamazing author, and me and
Paulina, and we'll be talkingabout ancestral traditions.
(53:20):
And then the next day, tarotand Ancestor Communication
Workshop.
Paulina and I have taught thisbefore and we're teaching it
again at Mystic by Cottage Magic.
And then Bebe's Kitchen is ourfinal event, a culinary ritual,
and that'll also be part of theTennessee Williams Festival and
(53:40):
it's hosted by Ilva and MoonBear and Paulina and I will be
offering tea leaf reading.
So please sign up for thefestival, come to our events,
spread the word.
We definitely need help gettingthe word out.
We're super excited to beoffering our first festival and
long story, short short.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
There's nothing we won't be doing.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Okay, basically everything okay, two events a
day, every day, every day, allday, every day, no sleep very,
very awesome though that is socool.
Speaker 3 (54:12):
I loved hearing about that.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
That's, that's happening it's gonna be so fun.
We can't wait.
Yeah, so y'all can sign up atromanasunpodcastcom.
Send all your New Orleansfriends the information too.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here with us, sharon.
We had such a lovely timetalking with you.
We wish we could be at theexhibit.
If we could teleport to all ofthe cool events that people are
(54:36):
doing all over the world, wewould, um, and yeah, feel free
to tag us in any posts and we'rehappy to share them cool, thank
you.
Speaker 3 (54:44):
Thank you so much for the talk.
Speaker 2 (54:46):
Oh my gosh, our pleasure yeah, thank you so much
and see you later.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
Thank you for listening to romanistan podcast
you can find us on instagram,tiktok and Facebook at RamanaSan
Podcast and on Twitter atRamanaSanPod.
To support us, join our Patreonfor extra content or just
donate to our Ko-Fi fundraiser,ko-ficom backslash RamanaSan,
(55:30):
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It helps people find our show.
It helps us so much.
Speaker 2 (55:35):
You can follow Jez on Instagram at jasminavantila,
and paulina at romaniholistic.
You can get our book Secrets ofRomani Fortune Telling online
or wherever books are sold.
Visit romanistanpodcastcom forevents, educational resources
and more.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
Email us at romanistanpodcast at gmailcom
for inquiries Romanistan ishosted by Jasmina Vontila and
Paulina Stevens, conceived of byPaulina Stevens, edited by
Victor Pachas, with music byVictor Pachas and artwork by
Elijah Barado.
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