Project Karavan

Juan C. P Rz
May 18, 2023
12 min read

The authors of the project are Daniela Krajčová and Oto Hudec in cooperation with children from community centres, primary schools and after-school clubs from predominantly Roma communities.

The caravan with equipment for non-traditional animation techniques has been travelling around Slovakia for four years in the summer months, mapping the environment in Roma communities. Artists Daniela Krajčová and Oto Hudec work with children in workshops lasting several days, resulting in short animated films about everyday life in Roma settlements, villages and housing estates. Stories that capture the difficulties, the feeling of exclusion from society, but also a lot of pleasant experiences and mutual help between children and adults.

"Everything was so different, the culture, the skin color, everything. And it wasn't until I was there that I realized how much I had been missing, how much I hadn't been seeing." - Daniela Krajčová

The first day of the workshops is dedicated to music and dancing in front of the blue keying area and there are exceptional talents at every venue. Other days, young people from not only the Roma community have the chance to test their artistic talents and learn the basics of stop motion animation and cartoon animation.

At the end of the workshops, a screening is held in each location, where, in addition to the children, parents, neighbours and community workers are also invited.

In addition to the children's daily lives, the Caravan Project gives viewers an insight into the functioning of Roma communities through interviews with community centre staff, primary school teachers and village mayors. These interviews reveal the specificity of the environment of individual villages and also offer analysis, or sometimes concrete solutions, to local social problems.

From Canvas to Caravan: Empowering Roma Children through Art and Storytelling

What was the first thing that appeared in your life? Creativity or social activities?

Daniela: I've been surrounded by visual arts since I was a little girl, with both my parents being artists. As I grew up and went to college, I started to pay more attention to the art around me in everyday life.

Oto: My experience is similar to Daniela's. I began studying fine arts in college, and it was there that I was introduced to different forms of activism. A few years after graduating, those interests began to intersect and influence my work.

What were some of the themes that stood out to you during your college years?

Daniela: During my college years, I had the privilege of doing internships in both Mexico and France. It was during these experiences that certain themes started to stand out to me, such as migration, racism, and issues related to otherness.

Why do you think you only noticed these themes abroad for the first time?

Daniela: I don't think I really noticed it until I was in Mexico as a white European. Everything was so different, the culture, the skin color, everything. And it wasn't until I was there that I realized how much I had been missing, how much I hadn't been seeing.

Oto: For me, it was in college when I started getting involved in free education activities. That's where I began to really notice things. Then, like Daniela said, I went to Portugal to teach for five years, and that's where my interest in migration and migrants began to develop. It was fascinating being in a country that used to be a Portuguese colony and seeing how migration had shaped the history and culture of that country.

Additionally, the Roma population is most prominent in Košice, in eastern Slovakia. It's a complex issue, but one that we're extremely passionate about exploring through our work.

Can you tell me about your experience in social work and how it has impacted you personally and professionally?

Daniela: While I haven't worked specifically in social work, I have explored social themes in my art. I realized that, in my art, I had been trying to define myself with a label to a certain extent. However, I eventually came to understand this in a weary and subjective way. Despite this, I remained curious and sensitive about how others experience art. Initially, migration caught my attention, followed by the clash of different cultures and the Jewish theme. Currently, being a mother has made me more interested in exploring the feminist perspective and a woman's point of view.

Oto: I wouldn't necessarily classify my work up to this point as social work, but the Caravan Project would come closest to it. We met people from community centers who do social work, but the difference is that they have a degree and have been working with a particular community for an extended period of time, and their work has a clear vision. When it comes to working with children, the goal is to guide them towards developing skills and helping them thrive in their families.

In art, our projects are short-term, but there are still elements of social work involved, and the ultimate aim is to create a social impact. Through our projects, everyone gains some skills, and relationships are built.

Daniela: We both had an experience with Karin Andrasikova, who is an art therapist and social worker. Speaking for myself, the motivation was to embark on an adventure and try it out. However, the experience didn't have a significant long-term effect as we were only in various places for 2-4 days, and the impact wasn't great. The goal was more about showing and mediating the experience.

Oto: Regarding the experience with Karin, when I saw her working with the children, it was not primarily about the visual outcome but rather about the children developing some mental skills through creative work. As artists, our main objective is to display these things in the gallery at the end of the process. It is our job to cut and combine these elements. We prioritize both the process and the result. However, this is where we differ from a pure art therapist.

Are any of these areas more dominant? Social or creative?

Daniela: I'm not doing that much at the moment, so I can't really say. I'd say I'm about half and half when it comes to the creative and social aspects. It's important for me to have the social element in there, but the creative part is always my starting point.

Oto: The question is whether it's overlap of social participatory art or pure art.

For me, it's about the connection between activism, social work, and normal art. I've been more involved in classical art lately because I teach it at school. Participatory social intervention has transformed into teaching for me. Alongside that, I've been more active as a climate activist for the past two years.

Daniela: Sometimes I do something over the internet, but it's probably more superficial. It's a substitute for personal contact in a way.

Can the combination of two areas, social and artistic, be problematic?

Oto: The first thing that comes to mind is that I don't find it that problematic. Sometimes in the art world, there is a problem of how to evaluate and perceive more the social projects and where the artistic quality lies. This discussion belongs in the exhibit space, but to me, it seems like a secondary concern. Ideally, people combine what they do best in social work and art, and it is nice when they find themselves in it and there is some harmony in it.

Maybe sometimes there's an inner censor working in the head. When we knew that we were doing a social project that was going to be exhibited in a gallery, then we had to realize whether the exhibition had quality and whether the target group was the artistic community, which is still an issue.

Daniela: For example, when we worked with the women, it was important to create a comfortable environment where they felt at ease. Our aim was to provide them with a social space where they could share their time together. I never forced any programs on them; we only did activities that were cathartic for them and helped them open up to someone. It's important to find the right approach that feels pleasant and comfortable for them. As the project authors, we want to create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe and respected.

Now, how do you incorporate art into a climate theme?

Oto: I've totally connected it the last two years in my work. It has been about the climate crisis. Some is more in an activist form, and some is in a poetic and serious form. But at the same time, I have been and am working in a group called Let's Lose Time - a climate group. Before we were more active, now we are more passive. For a period of time, I had the feeling that activism prevailed with me, as when there was intermetal activism. Whenever there were protests and demonstrations, we took part and helped in some way.

Even the One World Festival we did one exhibition and that was an intersection between activism and art. It was quite informative about climate change and the future that awaits us, and at the same time there were artists invited with more classical forms of art.

Can you name some of your works that combine social themes and your own artistic work?

Daniela: Caravan is our joint project, which we did in a modified caravan animation using different techniques with children in Roma settlements. We created short videos about their everyday life and showed their dreams and activities. The videos were projected directly in the community and also in galleries in bigger cities. In addition to Caravan, I worked on other projects. For example, Slovak for Asylum Seekers - Nude with Refugees, where I used drawings and texts from them to incorporate their testimonies into the text. My lessons in Slovene are marked by how they experience their situations.

For Embroidery, the project was called Obrusok/servetka. I had prepared slats with pictures related to motherhood, and the women drew on it together. We embroidered patterns inspired by Ukrainian embroidery. That's where we spent a lot of time, doing handwork together.

Oto: I have fewer projects than Daniela, but one of them is the Carpathian islands in Portugal, which is a project that connects the Carverts and involves cooperation between women who live in the village, some teenagers and children in the neighborhoods around Lisbon. In addition, there was a larger project: a statue of the children of the nine. That was sent to me from the community center and together with the children, we made concrete sculptures for the village. This is the only project that I can say is my social work.

There was a mural on the occasion of the Pope's arrival at Lunik 9 (the Roma settlement in Kosice), and on one of the flats of Lunik 9, there was a big mural with plants that the children collected and then painted. They were painted as if they were growing out of the cracks of some asphalt. We did it with the designer Victor Kupec, but it was mainly done by a lecturer at the community center.

What is the most satisfying aspect of your career as an artist?

Oto: The most satisfying feeling is when I work on a bigger art project. For example, I've been working on a wooden whale for the second year now, and when it's finally done and looks good, and when I can share it with people, it feels great. It's a good feeling to see that it works at the show.

In the Caravan project, we do workshops with children, and the result is short animated films. After three days of working with them, we always give them a screening, and that is a very good feeling. It's a lot different than showing the films in a gallery, and the audience reacts differently. When they react to something that's funny, it feels great. So we're thinking about making it fun for them. Then, we pick a different selection of their work for the art show, which differs a lot from what works for these kids. We pick out every little thing they've done.

There are still some specific situations, like the wooden megaphone that originated in Dallas, USA. It was supposed to be about the Mexican community. There was a guy who recorded interviews with me with Mexican migrants but also with "American" citizens - second generation. It was very powerful for me to hear those stories and the personal strength that came from those people. There was one guy who was a dancer and was into traditional Mexican dance. I felt like he was giving more to me than I was giving to him through the resulting work. And then I got feedback where he was very proud to relate to that final piece, which describes him. That's a good feeling. These people felt empowered by that experience.

How do you determine your target audience?

Oto: I'm not sure if I should consider the "project" target group, although we often define target groups for our projects. Let's say that for these social projects, there are three target groups: first, the participants (children); second, the visitors of the gallery and festivals where we showcase the results. The community workers are also a target group and big helpers, as it can be beneficial for them to get a different perspective on the subject and learn new artistic techniques that they can use further. The target group can also be broader. When we have a screening, we always try to invite the parents of the participants, but it doesn't always work out. When we go to a Roma settlement or a part of a village that is Roma, the ideal is that Roma and non-Roma from that particular locality will watch it. However, there are often some tensions, and some people don't always come, even though they are the target group.

In the Caravan project, the target group is mostly the majority, and we showcase the project's works on the internet through our website. Through the experience of children and some everyday life, there's a chance to empathize.

Speaking for myself, it goes back to the first question. If we weren't artists, the original thought would have been to teach the children. But I'm under no illusions about that. Rather, it was to influence public opinion a little bit.

Do you think art has the ability to address pressing social issues? And if so, how?

Oto: I had a conversation about this exact topic with a friend of mine, Tomas Rafa. I said that the chance of changing something fundamentally through a project is not at all likely, but he looked at me horrified. He believed there is some small chance, and there are some really good examples where it works out. Participatory art requires skill to do well, but to do a project with the intention to change something fundamentally, you might only succeed in one out of fifty projects. When you mentioned Sedona as an example, those villages are a good example where some social processes were started that are still going on now.

Could you give an example of some selected works of art with social themes that you find as a good example?

Oto: I heard that Harrison Newton passed away yesterday. He was a good example of person who had an interesting approach.

Sometimes I don't understand why people don't see that ecology and social issues are interconnected. When we talk in the context of living beings, it is the same. For example, in Latin America, they have a strategy called 'Buen Vivir' which sees nature as a legal entity. There was also a project that helped reduce crime in a neighborhood in Chicago by getting rival gangs to work together on video projections.

In the Czechoslovak environment, Ludmila Hoňáková is an example. She had a longer-term project in Kočice with income-seekers, and I think it worked very well for them. They did some art together, printed a magazine or a journal, and she met with them very regularly, which they appreciated. I don't think many people in the art world are as dedicated to social issues as they should be. It makes a lot of sense to be devoted to these people, who are often very lonely.

What are the potential mistakes in the stories that one should avoid?

Oto: I also learn from my own mistakes, and it's even worse because most of the time, in this kind of work, it affects someone other than just me. I think it's important to listen and try to understand the people with whom we are cooperating. For example, we had another discussion with Daniela about social sculpture. The people we are working with are artists, and that seems like an unfortunate situation when people are intentionally worked with in such an undignified way. It's important to remember that these are people who feel things just as we do. It's not always possible to approach things in a completely unheroic way. When we work with children, we are in the position of an educator, but it's not stop-centric. For example, when we worked with teenagers, they were sensitive to how they were presented externally. Not everybody wanted to be in a photo or video, while others were eager to participate. We have to listen to them, as it's a very sensitive issue. On the one hand, we have to try to understand that people in the Roma community have a natural respect for those who are non-Roma and come into their community with a certain level of understanding. We have to get a sense of what they are comfortable with and what they are not.

How do you reflect on the fact that the European funds are coming with a call that tries to connect the artistic and social sectors and encourage their cooperation. Do you think that's a good impulse?

Oto: I remembered Claire Bishop's book 'Artificial House', which included a statistic about the promotion of community art in Britain. She seemed to view it quite critically, as a form of 'quasi' European middle ground that was trying to replace real social policy. It was being implemented by non-profits and artists in some communities.

Especially in Roma communities, the biggest problems are the lack of water, poor quality housing, and non-existent sewage systems, along with discrimination in education and employment. These are not things that we can solve through art. If we pretend that we can, we are creating an illusion and absolving ourselves of the real responsibility to solve these problems.

This is also a right-wing versus left-wing view. The more right-wing view is that we should somehow teach people to fish, while the more left-wing view is that we should provide some social quality of life. People need quality housing, and then the ability to have better results in school depends on that. The 'Nudge' theory is that it doesn't work. Perhaps an environment where people don't communicate with each other could be the starting point for some processes, and then a lot of it moves on its own.

It is possible to start this through artistic creation. People can gain a different view of themselves, and they can see that with their skills, they can do something on their own without having to wait for the state to solve their problems. There are things that art can do, but we have to be careful not to overstate its power and to be realistic about what we can achieve.