Year 1 Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month Today we are learning about the artwork of the Gypsy and Traveller people. We will be finding out about a Gypsy artist called Gabi Jimenez. Who are Gypsies or Travellers?

There are lots of different groups of Gypsies and Travellers Some Travellers lives in houses Some live on sites like this: Some live ‘roadside’ because they don’t have a site to go to. Some travel with the Fairground or Circus Remember - Gypsies have lived in England for hundreds of years! Play the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJET9cUeUSo Video lasts 5 minutes

Gabi Jimenez Today we are going to look at the artwork of Gabi Jimenez.

Who is he? He is a French artist and Traveller He lives near Paris, France His paintings have been shown throughout France and Europe He works to help people understand the life of Travellers. There are not enough stopping places for people who want to live a travelling life. This means some people stop whereever they find space (by the roadside, in parks) They can be forced to move by the police Sometimes when this happens people can be hurt or injured,or separated from their families . Their belongings and trailers can get damaged. "You who see campers, trash, problems...I see my life, family, happiness, joy of life” So in his work, Gabi Jimenez tries to tell this story.

Gabi’s artwork What words can you find to describe this piece? What other words? What do you think the artwork is ‘saying’? What does this artwork mean? How does the image makes you feel about the people shown? What does the image tell you about the people?

Gabi’s portraits – what is a portrait? How can you describe the faces in this piece? Use your maths/shape words to describe the shapes you see.. Describe the eyes, noses… Where are the mouths? If the people have no mouths, can they speak? Can they have a voice?

Why are portraits made? Maybe to record an important time in a person’s life, to project a powerful image of the person, or group of people. How is Van Gogh’s different to Picasso’s portrait? Below this is a famous self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh

Evita Tezeno’s portraits? Which one is more ‘realistic’? Frida Kahlo – how is her self-portrait different to …..

Compare Elisha Ongere and Gabi Jimenez What is the same? What is different?

Activity Working in the style of Gabi Jimenez, create a portrait. This could be a self-portrait, or a portrait of a friend, or one from your imagination. You can decide as a class how you wish to make this (depending on children’s previous use of various media). This could possibly fit in with a maths lesson (drawing and cutting shapes from a variety of skin tone papers – painted or ready) and assembling a collage? Look carefully at the shapes used.

Final video Today many Gypsies Roma or Travellers grow up in modern trailers like this one. In the past many lived in traditional wagons. Have a look at this video to find out about life for Gypsies in the past: https://vimeo.com/134399061 4 minutes.

Hello children of Brighton and Hove! I'm Gabi Jiménez, a painter from France. I belong to the community ‘Gitana’ – we are Spanish gypsies. It is this community that gave us popular images that people think of when they think of Gypsies: Long dresses, head scarves, earrings, guitars and flamenco dancing. I hope you all will help to make our society better and that we, human beings can live together in peace and harmony. Work well in school kids! The future of the planet depends on it! See you soon! Gabi Jiménez

Class challenge There is a Brighton and Hove prize for the best class work. Please email photos of your displayed work to: maxine.lambert@brighton-hove.gov.uk Good luck!