Mile End Arts Pavilion gets ready to show hidden Roma London’

AN EXHIBITION documenting the changing lives of 10 teenage Roma girls opens next month. It is a photographic collaboration’ focussing on audio-visual archives of East London’s Roma community through self-portraits, voice recordings and personal documents

AN EXHIBITION documenting the changing lives of 10 teenage Roma girls opens in London's East End next month.

It is a 'photographic collaboration' focussing on audio-visual archives of East London's Roma community through self-portraits, voice recordings and personal documents.

Roma families, who were displaced from Eastern Europe and still feel marginalised from British society, see the exhibition as an opportunity to put their identities in the limelight.

The exhibition at Mile End's up-and-coming Art Pavilion aims to do something new, rather than portray 'stereotypes' of Roma people as "romantic and free" or living in abject poverty.

The teenagers document a crucial moment in their lives as they undergo complex transitions, from girlhood into womanhood, from Eastern European 'segregation' to attempts at British multi-culturalism, from passive outsiders to active participants in today's society.

Professional photographer Manuela Zanotti mentored them over several months as they captured the everyday life of their families. The resulting images are an essential record for East London's Roma community.

The exhibition, Roma London, by Different Culture Photos, runs February 11-19 at The Art Pavilion in Mile End Park, Grove Road end.