As a boy of twelve, Jan Yoors fulfilled many an adventurous youth's
fantasy when he left his comfortable Belgian home to live and travel
with a tribe, or kumpania, of Gypsies. Adopted into the
extended family of Pulika, Yoors passed his days with the patriarch's
sons and nephews, learning the traditions and participating in the
rituals of the Gypsies, or Romani. As the years passed, he divided his
life between the world of his birth, where he became a noted tapestry
artist, filmmaker, and war hero, and the world of the Romani, where he
returned regularly for more than five decades.
Yoors was also a gifted writer and photographer: his memoir, The Gypsies,
is a riveting account of his life with the Romani; his many hundreds of
images -- most of them never before published -- document the
personalities and daily existence of his kumpania. The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies
brings together Yoors's photographs and excerpts from his memoir. The
nuanced portrait details the rhythms of life among the Romani; the
exceptional occurrences of birth, marriage, and death; and the highly
codified system of conduct of the Gypsies. Roadside caravans, evening
meals, multifamily feasts, village fairs, convocations of the kris
(the Romani tribunal of justice), and wedding celebrations: all are
powerfully evoked in both word and image. Comprehensive and vivid,
expressive and lyrical, this volume is testimony to the author's
remarkable facility with language -- both written and visual -- and an
unequalled portrait of daily life among the Gypsies.
About the author:
Jan Yoors was born in Antwerp,
Belgium; trained as a sculptor in Brussels; and became an acclaimed
tapestry artist and weaver in New York. He is the author of The Gypsies and Crossing: A Journal of Survival and Resistance in World War II.
Ian Hancock was born in England of British and Hungarian Romani descent
and has been active in the Romani movement since the 1960s. He is
professor of Romani studies and director of the Romani Archives and
Documentation Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
