Eva Davidová

Ethnographer, sociologist, art historian, and photographer, Eva Davidová (b. 1932) is one of the founders of Gypsy (Roma) studies in the Czech Republic. Since the mid-1950s she has devoted herself to the systematic study of Gypsy life in Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. She took her first photographers of Slovak and Oláh (Wallachian) Gypsy (formerly nomadic Romani) communities and made the first audio recordings of Gypsy stories and music back in the 1950s. Since graduating from Charles University, Prague, in 1957, she has remained true to her topic, working as an expert in various academic and cultural institutions. At present she lectures at South Bohemian University, České Budějovice, and as a visiting lecturer at several other universities. She also works with a number of other institutions at home and abroad, is a member of the International Romani Union, and is active in the international Gypsy Lore Society. The photographs in the present volume were made between 1956 and 1995. They constitute an artistic document of everyday Gypsy life and the road the Gypsies traveled in this period. The book is introduced with an article by Anna Fárová, a leading historian of Czech photography, and an article by Jana Horváthová, Director of the Museum of Romani Culture, Brno.