From the center of Sevilla to the “3000 viviendas”

Polígono sur. El arte de las tresmil, de Dominique Abel (España-Francia, 2003) WATCH THE ENTIRE MOVIE. Life and art of the gypsies who lived in the historical districts of the center of Sevilla, evicted and now living in the neighborhood known as the “3000 viviendas” in the Poligono Sur.

“Our roof was the sky. Now we have houses; heating; fridges; but we miss what we had before, those ideals we had before. Do you remember how it was in Triana, we had nothing to eat but we were in grace of God, with only a tomato, singing and dancing, no shoes, we didn’t get ill”. “It was like a family, everybody, no mind if gypsies or not”. “Because we didn’t come here to these blocks because we wanted to. We were happy in the country. Now here you get up and go to sell your things, there comes the police. You go to another market, more police. What do they want us to do, us gypsies?” – “Now that we are more elegant! We don’t steal chickens any more…”. “Now they steal much more! This is the root of all evil: the love for money. We, the gypsies, were free from that evil: we were happy with a donkey and a pot of potatos. But not any more: now we want Mercedes… the triumph of egoism, of vanity… we were humble, now we are not humble any more, we are anxious. You see all those gypsies, what a shame, wearing tons of gold, they look like rattles”. […] “My children, began with heroin when they were 10 years old. It was coming here to these blocks: in the small houses, they didn’t” – “We all lived this misery of drugs. This will never leave us. I asked a judge, and he said that this is here to stay. I asked him ‘mister, please tell me, when will they take this thing away?’ and he said ‘madame, this thing has come here to stay'”.