‘I am very, very proud to be of the Travelling People’, says Sara Wilhelmsen. ‘There’s a lot of strong emotions, there’s loads of life, fire. We are a living people, who were traveling. People who felt a lot and went through shitloads of crap, but who are here today.’
Travellers is what the Romani/Norwegian Travellers/Taters call themselves, and Sara is one of the many Travellers photojournalist Ingun Alette Mæhlum met whilst working on this exhibition.
During the last six years, Mæhlum met with Travellers from all of Norway, hearing their personal stories about identity and culture. The Romani people were subjected to a harsh process of assimilation, and they are no longer year-round travellers. Many aspects of Norwegian Traveller culture have survived, such as handicrafts, strong family ties, trade and the yearning to travel.
All Travellers have their own opinion of what it means to be part of the Romani people, and no one can represent the entire Norwegian Travellers’ community. With this exhibition, based on meetings with dozens of people, the photographer wants to show who the Travellers are in Norway in 2025.
The Romani people/Norwegian Travellers/Taters are one of five recognized national minorities in Norway, alongside Roma, Kvens/Norwegian Finns, Norwegian Jews and Forest Finns.
About the photographer
Ingun Alette Mæhlum is a photographer, having studied Photojournalism at Oslo Met. Born in Hamar, she has lived in Tromsø since 1998. Mæhlum has published several books with documentary photography from Northern Norway, including Tussøy (Kehrer Verlag, 2017), from which several works were shown at the juryed exhibitions Høstutstillingen and Nordnorsken. Mæhlum has had several solo shows in Norway and abroad.
The Exhibition is supported by
Fritt Ord, Kulturrådet, Statens kunstnerstipend, Norske fagfotografers fond, Tromsø kommune