JEANNETTE GREGORI
ULTIMA VERBA, The private life of Gerard Gartner, Gypsy artist

Gerard Gartner, a Gypsy artist living in Collonges La Rouge in Corrèze, has just published two new books, "Dernier coup de poing" and "A la rencontre d’ Alberto Giacometti", in 2019. At age 84, he has decided to narrate his life story and pay tribute to the people he met. These books describe his career from boxing to sculpture. In 2016, Gerard Gartner, a sculptor of international renown, had already made a name for himself by destroying all of his works in Douarnenez during an event he called "Ultima Verba". "To show that Gypsies do not necessarily play music," he became the spokesperson for Gypsy artists, by organizing in Paris, the World Premiere of Gypsy Art in 1985, by writing the biography "Carnets de Route" of his late friend Matéo Maximoff, the first French-speaking Roma writer. By illustrating himself in the intellectual sphere where Gypsies were not expected , he is an example to follow for the new generations and embodies the hope of the evolution of the Gypsies of tomorrow.

Author
Jeannette Gregori was born in 1967 and now lives in Strasbourg, France. She studied photography at the University of Fine Arts, Indiana, in the US and the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. Chance ad curiosity led to her getting to know a group of Romai families settled along a departmental road in Alsace, France in the summer of 2009. Her work since has sought to depict the engaging characters she came to know from these families and the humanity she saw in these people in the face of prejudices. Today, if she remains attached to this cause, she gradually opens to other society topics over the course of her experiences. Photography allows her to advocate children and women's rights or provide social guidance. Jeannette Gregori teaches photography in a high school and regularly intervenes with a public of young students all over France, to bring them to produce photographic works associated with creative writing.

Website
www.jeannettegregori.com

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