What Makes a Home? (2025) by Dan Turner
Part of an ongoing series, this work juxtaposes the functional with the decorative, and the ephemeral with the permanent, linking with the exhibition as a whole to explore the symbolic use of made objects in relation to Romani heritage, tradition and culture.
Dan Turner.
The artist employs traditional Romani crafts such as peg making and wooden flower carving, using objects which are made to sell or keep by those within Romani communities. Dan reminds us of the tradition of door-to-door selling carried out by women members of his family and the wider Romani community.
These sales provided household needs, such as pegs and brooms, the objects themselves establishing a Romani presence in homes across the country. Dan’s objects comment on how Romani communities historically made a wider contribution to society.
Dan raises questions exploring the romanticised way in which Romani people can and have been viewed historically from outside communities, as decoration without valuable function, or with a fetishised or infantilising gaze.
Dan explores the meaning of these made objects, questioning their identity as both practical and art objects. Where does the everyday take on poetic meaning and become an art object? Several bronze and glass casts of more ephemeral objects, such as pegs and flowers, are also displayed within the installation.
These are placed inside a bronze ‘calling’ basket. The symbolic transformation of these objects comments on both the transient and the permanent nature of Romani communities and traditions, a permanence that prevails despite forced assimilation and oppression.
As if for sale, these objects are hung from a once functional found object, used in a market and place of trade, questioning the borders around art and the everyday.
This integration attempts to explore the unseen and hidden construction of traditional carts conceptually acknowledging the private and hidden nature of Romani communities. Within these, hidden and protected ways of being have been adopted in response to persecution and oppression.
Displayed in addition to this wall mounted piece are some contextualising original objects that have inspired and been used in creating the installation, along with a photograph illustrating the lives of London Romani in the past.
