Decorated Farmhouses of Sweden – Artistic Residency Scholarship

Hälsinglands Museum is encouraging Romani artists to help investigate Romani angles of the concept ‘world heritage’ through a residency project/scholarship.

 

Every year, the region of Gävleborg offers a residency connected to the World Heritage Site “Decorated Farmhouses of Sweden”. Hälsinglands Museum, also located in this region, has been working with issues concerning Romani history and heritage since 2014. In 2018, the museum inherited the artistic legacy of jewelry designer Rosa Taikon, who worked and lived in the county. In 2021, the permanent exhibition Rosa Taikon – Art and Struggle was opened. 

 

In collaboration with Romska Kulturcentret in Malmö, the museum started to investigate how to bend the prevalent narratives of the Decorated Farmhouses to also include minority perspectives, including school tours, focusing on the Romani experience of traveling from farm to farm, looking for work and selling goods. Since the World Heritage Convention is closely tied to ideas about national heritage, the perspective of Romani gives new and indispensable angles to what is to be considered as world heritage and by whom.