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Ceija Stojka - A Roma Artist in the Century
Ceija Stojka was the first Romani woman to survive the death camps (WWII) and bear witness, to speak out against denial and forgetting, and against the anti-Romani racism pervasive in Austria, and in Europe.
The ensemble she left at her death in 2013 is like a giant journal without a chronology in which paintings and writings combine to evoke the nightmarish experience of a child who lived through the 'Samudaripen', or Romani genocide.
This exhibition catalogue sets out to recapture the artist's spirit and singularity, her communicative vitality - and to do justice to her rearkable body of work.
The ensemble she left at her death in 2013 is like a giant journal without a chronology in which paintings and writings combine to evoke the nightmarish experience of a child who lived through the 'Samudaripen', or Romani genocide.
This exhibition catalogue sets out to recapture the artist's spirit and singularity, her communicative vitality - and to do justice to her rearkable body of work.
197 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2018
17 people want to read
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August 20, 2025
I feel eternally grateful to have come across the work of Ceija Stojka whilst doing personal research. It has been quite inspiring. Ceija Stojka became later in her life a writer, a poetess and a painter, specifically in order to tell her story as a Romani woman and a survivor of the Porrajmos (Roma Holocaust) and the story of her people.
Ceija Stojka's art style has been described as folk art, naive art, or inspired by German expressionism. She is a self-taught artist. But, more than naive, her style acts as a historical witness to the horrifying story she is telling, since this is from her point of vue as a child during the genocide. She played with contrast between pre-war colourful, lively paintings and then much darker ones. I particularly loved her portrayal of Nature, whether trees, sunflowers, or poppies. I am not an art critic though so I wouldn't know much about the vocabuary nor every little detail and nuance.
This has been, genuinely, the most interesting book that I have read in quite a long time. I applaud the work of everyone involved (editor, historian, art critic, biographer, ethnologist, translators,...). They have done such a wonderful job. You can tell that so much care and appreciation for Ceija's art and memory went into it. Thanks to people like them for giving the respect and visibility that Romani artists deserve.
The first 50 pages or so give historical, socio-political, and artistic context, and informations about how art curators discovered Ceija's pictural work. The paintings are divided according to the main themes and in a rather chronological order (life before WW2, during the genocide, life after surviving). The book ends on a biography told through both little texts and photographs of Ceija and her family, which were quite appreciated. The book is bilingual French-English.
A personal preference of mine, I loved her paintings much more than her poems. I can't wait to dive into her autobiographical writing. I highly recommend!
Ceija Stojka's art style has been described as folk art, naive art, or inspired by German expressionism. She is a self-taught artist. But, more than naive, her style acts as a historical witness to the horrifying story she is telling, since this is from her point of vue as a child during the genocide. She played with contrast between pre-war colourful, lively paintings and then much darker ones. I particularly loved her portrayal of Nature, whether trees, sunflowers, or poppies. I am not an art critic though so I wouldn't know much about the vocabuary nor every little detail and nuance.
This has been, genuinely, the most interesting book that I have read in quite a long time. I applaud the work of everyone involved (editor, historian, art critic, biographer, ethnologist, translators,...). They have done such a wonderful job. You can tell that so much care and appreciation for Ceija's art and memory went into it. Thanks to people like them for giving the respect and visibility that Romani artists deserve.
The first 50 pages or so give historical, socio-political, and artistic context, and informations about how art curators discovered Ceija's pictural work. The paintings are divided according to the main themes and in a rather chronological order (life before WW2, during the genocide, life after surviving). The book ends on a biography told through both little texts and photographs of Ceija and her family, which were quite appreciated. The book is bilingual French-English.
A personal preference of mine, I loved her paintings much more than her poems. I can't wait to dive into her autobiographical writing. I highly recommend!
Displaying 1 of 1 review