RAPORTORU. No Longer the Stranger from Within

An exhibition by Eugen Raportoru on the 170th anniversary of the Abolition of Roma Slavery in the Romanian Principalities

In his latest exhibition, Eugen Raportoru revisits the past, grounded in the conviction that materiality itself carries history. His installations, often incorporating recycled elements, do not aim to reconstruct the past, but rework its traces into new spatial configurations. Bringing together paintings from Samudaripen with newly created works, the exhibition unfolds as an immersive environment of image, space, and sound. Historic trauma is approached as something embedded in matter and song alike, yet the gesture is not one of return, but of projection.

These artworks, presented as “lieux de mémoire”, illuminate a weight that remains largely unseen and continue to shape the lives of Roma, Sinti and Traveller communities across Europe. However, through the artistic gesture, Raportoru creates a present, in which neither he, nor the Roma remain positioned as “Strangers from Within”.

The exhibition RAPORTORU. No Longer the Stranger from Within, opens on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the Abolition of Roma Slavery in the Romanian Principalities, on February 20 at 18:00 at Căminul Artei Gallery in Bucharest.

To mark this day, the Roma Education Fund Romania (REF), together with the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) and Amphitheatrrom Cultural Association, officially launch the joint project “Roma Voices”, financially supported by the second Swiss Contribution to Romania, through the Romanian Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, acting as the Programme Operator for the overall Social Inclusion Programme.