Andreea Campeanu

Romanian-Roma actresses Mihaela Drăgan, Elena Duminică and Zita Moldovan during a performance of their show Gadjo Dildo in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on November 5th 2017. The show is a cabaret-like performance that talks about the exoticisation of Roma

Mihaela Drăgan applies make-up before a show at Green Hours Jazz Caffee in Bucharest, Romania, on February 5th, 2016.

Romanian-Roma actress Zita Moldovan and Romanian performer Paul Dunca take a cigarette break, before their play Gadjo Dildo, in the back stage of Green Hours Jazz Caffee, in Bucharest, Romania, on February 2nd, 2016.

Youth in a poor Roma community laugh during a performance of theater forum play Cristina’s story, directed by Mihaela Drăgan, in Cucova, on April 17th 2016. The play talks about violence against women, discrimination and the challenges of migration.

Romanian-Roma actresses Mihaela Dragan, Elena Duminica and Zita Moldovan are rehearsing for one of their plays in a room belonging to the Roma party, in Bucharest, Romania, on February 4th 2016.

Elena Duminica is braiding Mihaela Dragan's hair before a performance in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on November 5th 2017. The play was part of their tour "Roma Theater is not Nomadic", that tried to lobby for the creation of a Roma state funded theater.

Mihaela Dragan is talking to friends before a performance of her play Del Duma ("Talk about me" in Romani), in Kishinev, Republic of Moldova, on April 22nd, 2016. The play talks about early marriage in the Roma communities.

Zita Moldovan during the rehearsal of a poetry night for the 8th of March at the restaurant "The Gypsy Women's", in Bucharest, on March 6th, 2016.

Romanian-Roma actress Mihaela Drăgan shows her new tattoos to her mother and sister during a visit in her hometown Constanta, by the Black Sea, on December 5th 2017. On one showlder, she tattooed the feminism symbol and on the other one, the Roma fl

Mihaela Drăgan is talking to Roma girls in the house of a woman, after a theater performance, in a poor community in Valea Seaca, in the East of Romania, on April 16th 2016.

Roma actors Zita Moldovan and Sorin Sandu are laughing on a break during their TV show “I was born in Romania, too”, in Bucharest, Romania, on August 8th 2017. Their show tries to break stereotypes about the Roma community, by bringing positive stor

Giuvlipen, Romania’s Roma revolutionary theater

Giuvlipen is a Roma feminist theater group founded in 2014 by a group Romanian-Roma actresses,in Bucharest, Romania. The group’s aim is to break stereotypes about Roma, empower Roma women and challenge racism in Romanian society and patriarchal Roma communities.

Their performances talk about early marriage, lack of education, evictions, LGBT rights, discrimination and exoticisation of Roma women. In 2017, Giuvlipen toured Romania with their performances, campaigning for a Roma state-funded theatre.

Roma, the largest minority in Europe, are often victims of discrimination and in Romania, according to the World Bank, 9 out of 10 Roma live in deprivation, lacking basic access to healthcare and education.

Over the last two years, I have been photographing the group, following them on tours, but also in their daily lives. This is work in progress, and I intend to continue following the group’s growth.

Andreea Campeanu

Andreea Campeanu is a Romanian freelance photojournalist based in her hometown Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She frequently covers arts, fashion and sports culture in marginalized countries or communities, and is interested in the intersection between art and politics. Her work often focuses on documenting issues related to displacement and the effects of conflict. Andreea has covered the ramifications of war in South Sudan and Central African Republic. In the past, she lived and worked in Sudan, South Sudan, Madagascar and Lebanon. She also worked in Spain, Morocco, Central African Republic, Greece, Turkey. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Le Monde, Paris Match, and National Geographic Romania, among others. She frequently contributed to Reuters, AFP and the United Nations. Andreea holds a MA in Media and Visual Anthropology from Free University in Berlin. She received grants from Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and IWMF.