Generously hosted by Boxcar Gallery New Orleans, this pop-up exhibition will feature artwork and installations by queer, trans, and allied Romani artists. The exhibition itself serves as an ephemeral shrine dedicated to Saint Sara e Kali with each piece representing the artist's relationship to our patron saint. NOTE: This is an art exhibition by Roma artists. It is not a public ceremony nor is it a sharing of closed cultural practices; at it’s core it is a living art altar made by queer, trans, and allied Romani artists in public celebration of our personal relationship with spiritual heritage. Artist TBA shortly. Opening Reception 12/3 (6pm-9pm) CST

About Saint Sara e Kali

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As we welcome you to Romanistan, we would be remiss if we did not introduce you to our patron goddess (or saint, depending on who you ask), Sara la Kali. She is also known as Sara Kali, Kali Sara, St. Sarah, and sometimes the Black Madonna. Sara la Kali is a protector of the Romani people, a goddess for some, and an uncanonized saint for others. As Roma are an Indian diasporic group, it is likely that our goddess-saint finds her origins in the Hindu goddess, Kali, a fierce mother and protector with black skin and a thirst for justice. When Roma left India in waves, beginning circa the 10th century, they traveled west, and arrived in new countries where they were racially and culturally different. Some found seasonal travel routes, others kept walking, and some might have settled where they landed. Wherever early Roma traveled, they were frequently met with persecution and oppression that took the form of exclusion, violence, forced deportations, genocide, and 500 years of slavery centered within present day Romania and spread throughout Europe the world via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Roma are still met with persecution, and one of many responses is adaptation. Over the years, we have worked survival trades, such as basketmaking, performance, harvesting, fortune telling, animal trading, metal working, and more. Over the years, some of these trades have adapted to scrap metal recycling, car trading, online tarot readings, and so on. Our goddess too has adapted over the centuries from the fierce Kali Ma wreathed in skulls, weapons, and severed arms, to Sara la Kali, the dark skinned mother of all Roma wreathed in robes and many garlands of flowers. She is still our powerful protector, but now the sword glint is safely tucked beneath her many robes. 

 

Romanistan is everywhere the Roma are, and Sara la Kali watched over us. This festival is a multi-cultural celebration of the Romani people, culture, and trades. Certain trades, like fortune telling, have been highly romanticized and overblown, and their cultural context has been ignored. Many of our performers engage with fortune telling either as a family survival trade, or an aspect of their spiritual heritage. We seek to center Romani voices, as well as the voice of other marginalized ancestral knowledge keepers and artists. This is a place of intersecting identities, styles, genres, genders, sexuality, and cultures, and we welcome all who come in the spirit of acceptance, understanding, and self-awareness. Sara la Kali welcomes all her children, and their allies. 

 

For more on Sara la Kali, refer to the wonderful essay “The Romani Goddess Kali Sara” by Ronald Lee, and poetic works by Raine Geoghegan.