We Are Gypsies Now: A Graphic Diary

by Danielle de Picciotto

Artist-musician-writer Danielle de Picciotto seemed to have it all. Cool apartment in the heart of happening Berlin, adoring rock star husband, international art career, far-flung network of long-time friends, impeccable social media profile . . . Yet Danielle found herself in an existential crisis of epic proportions that no amount of binge-watching Breaking Bad could cure. When Danielle and husband Alexander Hacke renounced the idea of a home to become digital age gypsies, she began to see the clouds of despair parting before her and a better, more fulfilling way of life almost magically begin to emerge. We Are Gypsies Now! is the transcendently Illustrated and emotionally transparent journal of the adventures and internal struggles of their first year on the road with no direction home. Experiencing We Are Gypsies Now! is to embark on Danielle s deeply personal journey and to possibly heed her call for a more imaginative approach to life in our over-mediated and covertly alienated age. Switching between diary, autobiography and speculation, We Are Gypsies Now! explores the nomadic option as perhaps the only possible cultural and social response to gentrification and consumerism . . . . Reading this is an inspiration, a wake-up call, and perhaps even a demand to once again embrace the liberating freedom of chance. Jack Sargeant It's like being handed a pair of magic glasses and suddenly seeing all of the invisible bounds and barriers blocking our creative vision. Clearly it illustrates how we are slowly starving ourselves of the inspirational sustenance we crave while choking down the dry crumbs of our dying culture. Johanna Went This book is as close to "home" as it gets. The adventure is in every line. Picturing Danielle drawing this work all over the world is transporting. We can see her . . . a fascinating woman, long hair in her tilted face, across a piazza or on a park bench or a rainy veranda in Mexico with a black pen and a road-ratty drawing book. The artwork is so strong it could tell a story with no words at all. Carla Bozulich Her drawings are sensitive, spontaneous and intuitive, perfectly transporting you into the world she is describing. Interview magazine Danielle de Picciotto has the talent to portray her journey in a magical, fairylike style even the banal moments. Her story deals with the quest of searching for a place to live and finding happiness. This book could already be an answer. Vogue magazine"

Genres: Comics

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2013

Reviews

[Maricruz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al comienzo de Ahora somos nómadas Danielle de Picciotto, artista multimedia, y su pareja, el músico e integrante de Einstürzende Neubauten Alexander Hacke, se sienten atrapados: tienen una casa en Berlín, pero apenas pasan tiempo en ella porque no hacen otra cosa que trabajar para pagar esa casa y la cantidad de cosas que alberga. Así que deciden deshacerse de casa y cosas, todas las que puedan, y lanzarse a viajar hasta que encuentren un lugar donde puedan sentirse realmente satisfechos. La aventura está narrada como un diario gráfico donde cada página alberga un dibujo de De Picciotto y sus anotaciones sobre lo que viven en cada momento. A veces es interesante leer sus impresiones sobre los lugares que visitan, y sobre la vida estando de gira con Einstürzende Neubauten. El estilo de dibujo, un poco underground y fanzinero, no es de lo que más me gusta y es un tanto irregular, pero hay que reconocerle a Danielle de Picciotto su capacidad de síntesis gráfica y su sentido de la composición. Algunas imágenes son bien potentes. Mi principal problema con esta obra puede que provenga de prejuicios personales, no sé, y es que cada vez que me vienen con historias de gente que ha dado un cambio radical a su vida dejándolo todo atrás en pos de una vida más sencilla y poética, me tenso anticipando un relato tramposo donde se intenta esconder la posición de privilegio de la que se parte y que, en el fondo, se acaba manteniendo. Me cuesta sentir simpatía por Danielle de Picciotto y Alexander Hacke porque, aunque me parece indudable que ambos son personas muy trabajadoras, no me trago todo ese rollo de identificarse con los gitanos nómadas cuando se pasan medio libro en hoteles de lujo y en otros lugares convenientemente cómodos; sobre todo cuando, a poco que surge alguna incomodidad, les salen ramalazos bien burgueses. Hay una escena particularmente reveladora en que se cruzan con gitanos nómadas de los de verdad: hay un grupo de niños fumando en una estación de servicio y parecen todos hechos polvo. Todo esto, y las veleidades esotéricas, y las reflexiones sobre la vida moderna que no descubren la pólvora ni mucho menos, me han llevado a acabar este libro un tanto mosqueada.

[Jake Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book after flicking through it and loving the beautiful artwork. The first few pages are about stripping back one’s life of some of the material things that can weigh a person down in order to live a simpler lifestyle on the road. That is not it at all. These people are the most privileged, pretentious and generally offensive people I’ve read about in a while. They compare themselves to “gypsies” the whole time and she even doubles down by giving little bits of “info” on Roma culture. In reality they spend almost the entire time in luxury hotels and the rest of it staying with their rich friends while they travel the world. From the way she describes herself at one point being harassed at an airport because she is American, I think she might actually be deluded enough to think that her situation is in any way comparable to that of the struggles of the most marginalised people in Europe.

“I’m a fucking rockstar, I don’t sleep in airports”
- Gypsies

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. It was beautifully written: poignant and honest. The illustrations are quirkily intricate. Anyone trying to make a full-time living as an artist (and I mean that broadly construed) will identify with the ups and downs that the author describes. She poses some deep existential questions along the way (such as 'what is a home') and, although the word neoliberalism isn't used, I got the sense that the commodification and gentrification of pretty much everything are a major cause of the shifts that she describes. I hope there is a sequel.

[Karina Romero Botto · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 Por el título, pensaba que la historia iba por otro lado. Me sorprendió la trama, una pareja de esposos que se vuelven nómadas por sus carreras (ella es escritora y él es músico), me sorprendió aún más que existan en la vida real y que nos cuenten la historia de la banda. Contado como un diario con dibujos, este cómic va de la mano con la estética de la música. Eso si, no me enganché al 100%