Roma in France

I spent eight months in France in 1976 and 1977 on a Fulbright fellowship photographing Roma (gypsy) families. I returned in the summer of 1978 to join their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. The extended family I came to know in Paris was of the Kalderash tribe. They welcomed me into their homes in the suburbs of Paris and before I left I was invited to a family wedding. Julca and her mother Zimza were my contacts with all the other Roma I met. They understood that I was interested in the Roma way of life and invited me to family gatherings or just to sit in their living room. Before I left France I traveled with them to Les Stes.-Maries-de-la-Mer in the south of France where they gathered every summer for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah.