Roma artists paint murals on walls of 33 homes in one of Hungary's poorest regions

(25 Oct 2013) Roma artists from Hungary and across Europe on Thursday were finishing up a project to paint large murals on the outside walls of 33 homes in Bodavalenke, a small Hungarian settlement in one of the poorest regions in the country.
Many of the settlement's 200 residents live in deep poverty and 90-percent of them are gypsies, also known as Roma.
The project was designed to help the Roma take pride in their culture, to showcase their skills and to attract tourists to the area.
Some of the other paintings have been created by famous Roma artists from Serbia and Scotland.
"One aim was to fight prejudice by showing how much Roma culture enriches our common culture. We also wanted to help Bodvalenke rise out of deep poverty," said Eszter Pasztor, who organised the project.
She has been praised for her work by local basket weaver Jozsef Rusznyak.
"The village was not like this before, there was nothing here. Since Eszter arrived the village is beautiful and it has everything it needs."
Pasztor would love the project to get bigger.
"If we can get some more funding from other sources, I'd like very much to invite Gabi Jimenez from France, Lita Cabellut from Spain, Alberto Morelli from Italy and a few other artists," she said.

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