Hidden: Life with California's Roma Families

Exhibition at Luckman Fine arts center

Photography Exhibition

The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA is proud to present

Hidden: Life with California's Roma Families by photographer Cristina Salvador Klenz.

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 17 at 6:00 PM

Remarks will be given by Dr. Ian Hancock, OBE, former Representative of the Romani people to the United Nations and widely considered the world’s preeminent Romani scholar.

Cristina Salvador Klenz brings a collection of rare, intimate photographs featuring the Roma families living along the West Coast. The exhibition features the artist's nearly 30-year documentation of Roma lives — captured on black-and-white, 35mm film.

The exihibition will remain on view through October 14, 2023.

Location

Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles

5151 State University

Dr Los Angeles, CA 90032

Find out more

praise

"If the highest state of documentary photography is to take us to places we've not been and help us understand what we don't yet, then "Hidden" achieves the genre's greatest standards. The photographs are a gift to the curious and inquisitive viewer."

Mike Davis

Visual Storytelling Consultant, Editor, Educator

michaelddavis.com

"How little we know about one another, until we dare to take a closer look. Every photograph in this powerful collection offers an intimate and emotional window into the hidden culture of the American Romani people. Klenz's lens shields us from nothing, stripping away the secrecy to expose the beauty and wonder that has been concealed for too long."

Julie Cantrell

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of Into the Free

“Some of the best photographs documenting the Roma community I have ever seen. Each photo brings you into their lives and intimate moments and tells a complete story of its own. Incredible work rarely seen in contemporary photography these days. I look forward to holding this gorgeous book in my hands.

Jamie Johnson

Photographer, and author of Growing Up Travelling

"This small book actually is a very big one, because it shows us the life of American Roma from California at the beginning of 1990s. The photographs are beautifully arranged and show the everyday life, the celebrations, religious moments and the culture of Roma in the USA from the inside. The author, who had the possibility to live together with the Roma families, had learned their culture and showed it through the pictures. The book is important because it brings new knowledge about the life of American Roma."

Author Dr. Hristo Kyuchuko

Professor of General Linguistics (Psycholinguistics with focus on Romani and Turkish) and Intercultural Education at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

"Cristina Salvador Klenz's book is a striking example of visual storytelling. It captured my heart from the very first image, lending me entry into an intimate world of the universal human experience, filled with love, sadness, and hope."

Oksana Marafioti

Author of American Gypsy: A Memoir

“Klenz’s sensitivity and skills as a professional photojournalist resulted in intimate photographs documenting the community’s daily life; milestones including birth, death, marriage; and child-rearing set in the suburbs. Her subjects did not flinch from allowing her to see and photograph their most private moments. … Klenz’s work is unique and will become a photojournalism classic.”

Ken Kobre

Author & Emeritus Professor of photo, videojournalism,

San Francisco State University and author of Photojournalism: The Professional's Approach

Each turn of the page in "Hidden" offers a photographic gem to appreciate alone before moving on to the next image. A photo story of the highest order here.

Hal Wells

Los Angeles Times Photo Editor