Anton Holzer

Gazes/Countergazes. Roma and Sinti in Photography

in: Romani Studies, Vol. 36, Number 1, 2026

(peer reviewed, open access)

The article investigates the visual regimes that shaped representations of Roma and Sinti in European photography. Central to the analysis is the concept of “countergaze” – moments in which the photographed subjects disrupted, reinterpreted, or tactically negotiated the asymmetrical gaze of the camera. Through case studies of photographic reportages from different European countries, the article reveals that Roma and Sinti participants were not only passive objects but also active agents on the photographic stage. They staged performances, negotiated payments, and occasionally inverted the photographer’s authority by exaggerating, parodying, or even refusing the expected exoticized roles. These interventions, though constrained by economic and racial hierarchies, fractured the presumed one-way power of representation and exposed the photograph as a space of encounter and contestation.