With a media-anthropological ambition, the 2016 Roma Image Studio explored how Roma communities were represented in the contemporary mediatized space and how the self-image of the community was shaped by Roma figures active in the media, what influence they could have on majority media and society in a cultural or political sense. Self-image often means counter-image and back-talk, or to use Stuart Hall’s phrasing, reclaiming the right of controlling one’s identity. Our analysis included public broadcast programs and institutions (Patrin, Roma Production Office), the media school launched for Roma women (Buvero), social campaigns (e.g. A tudás 6alom / Knowledge is Power), sub-regional media (Cserepressz), a video workshop contracted for the media education of students (Makó Video Workshop), photography (Gabriella Csoszó, M. Judit Horváth), and the representation of Roma and black people in documentary films (tititá, Totó és nővérei / Totó and his Sisters, Handsworth Songs).

Final report: Roma Visual Lab 2016 (detailed version)