Romani Jivapen Jinapen

Romani Jivapen Jinapen

Romani Jivapen Jinapen

By: Daniel Baker, 2000
Medium: cast bronze
Size: 98mm
Cast by: Crucible Foundry
Edition: 28

Category:

Daniel Baker was born in 1961 in St Mary Cray in Kent, the youngest son of a family of Romanichal Gypsies. A Traveller community has existed in this area for many generations, representing one of the largest concentrations of settled Gypsies in Europe. His main occupation is as a visual artist, but he is also studying part-time for a post-graduate degree specialising in Romani Studies. He is currently vice-chair of the Gypsy Council for Education, Culture, Welfare and Civil Rights. He lives and works in south London. About his BAMS medal the artist writes: “This medal is designed as a tribute to the historic and continuing struggle of Gypsies world-wide. This ethnic group has resourcefully avoided extinction over the last millennium despite continuous assaults on their unique culture. There has previously been little attempt to pay public tribute to the Romani people. “The obverse of the medal shows a human figure, its body suggesting the vulnerability and struggle of a people oppressed. At the same time this depiction of humanity conveys the sense of nobility and integrity that is central to Gypsy culture. “The reverse shows a creature highly regarded by the Gypsies: the hedgehog. Like the Gypsy, it lives on the fringes of the wild, neither owned nor desired by most societies, disregarded and of no value to Gajos (non-Gypsies). Along with the horse, the hedgehog is considered by Gypsies to be symbolically truly clean (or unpolluted). They consider it good to eat, and it is also valued for its medicinal purposes. By consuming the hedgehog, the Gypsy identifies with its qualities. This process could be interpreted as the Gypsies’ act of liberation from the oppression they have always suffered. “On the edge of the medal, written in the Romani language, are the words ROMANI JIVAPEN JINAPEN (Gypsy Life Knowledge). This pays tribute to the oral transmission of Romani culture, which has enabled beliefs and wisdom to be carried on to present generations in the absence of a written language. The edge of the medal also bears the symbol of the cart-wheel, to signify the historic diaspora of the Gypsy people and their ongoing journey.”