Cristina Salvador Klenz brings a collection of rare, intimate photographs featuring the Roma families living along the West Coast. The exhibition features the artist’s nearly 30-year documentation of Roma lives — captured on black-and-white, 35mm film.

Works exhibited in Hidden are featured in the artist’s book of the same name, which won first place in the Documentary Book category of the 2022 International Photography Awards. By taking us behind the scenes of an ethnic minority largely unknown and yet routinely reduced to stereotypes, Salvador Klenz captures the celebrations, social structures, and struggles of the culture that has survived centuries of discrimination and persecution.

Since their exodus from India more than a thousand years ago, the Roma have migrated all over the globe. Cristina Salvador Klenz’s work — the first of its kind — features various nations of Roma in America, including the Kalderash and Machvaya, whose ancestors were enslaved in Eastern Europe for 500 years; the Xoraxay, whose first arrived in California after extended stays in Chile; the Mihais, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia; and the Ludar, who were forbidden from speaking their native tongue during enslavement and therefore had lost the Romani language by the time they encountered Salvador Klenz.

About the Artist
Cristina Salvador Klenz has worked for various news publications in New York and California. She was part of the team of photographers from Press-Telegram named as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Born in Portugal, she currently lives and works in California. Her documentary photography on Roma culture has been published worldwide and is part of the Romani Archives & Documentation Center at the University of Texas at Austin.