Romano Bumburumbum, 2009

Romano Bumburumbum is a picture book made by Roma children using handmade pinhole cameras.

I was working at The Children’s Society supporting Roma young people in Newham. One of the children’s dads - an unbelievable violin player who could play with his teeth - shared the story of Romano Bumburumbum and suggested we use it to make a book with the young people. Over several months the children worked with photographer Marta Kotlarska to build pinhole cameras and learn to use them to take and develop photographs. We made cardboard props, acted out the scenes of the story and captured them with the cameras they’d made.

When the book was ready, we hired an empty traditional caravan, painted the inside white, drilled a hole in the door the size of a 2p and turned it into a camera obscura. The world was projected upside down and in movement onto the walls and ceiling. We took the whole show around London with a horse. The children invited members of the public into the caravan where they told them the history of the Roma people and offered copies of the book which was also distributed to schools and libraries.

This project was supported by Arts Council England and the Consulate of the Republic of Poland.

This project was devised and delivered with artist Marta Kotlarska for The Childrens’ Society.