iLondon Museum · Smithfield
By Appointment Only: Romani Art, Culture & Heritage
A rotating display in the Reflections Room featuring British Romani artists Corrina Eastwood, Delaine Le Bas and Dan Turner, celebrating the livelihoods, creativity and craft of Romani communities alongside a historical timeline from 500 CE to 2022.
Corrina Eastwood grew up pouring sugar into her father's hands to clean off the black from his tyre trading business. Her piece here, Sugar Coated, includes 3D-printed casts of those hands. The title comes from pub signs she remembers: "No travellers or Gypsies allowed", later reworded as "Travellers by Appointment Only".
You walk into the Reflections Room, the museum's small space for artists, and find three works made in 2025 by British Romani artists. Turner Prize nominee Delaine Le Bas shows a calico dress covered in rosettes, and Dan Turner shows pegs and carved wooden flowers of the kind Romani women once sold door to door. A timeline by historian John-Henry Phillips runs from the migration out of north-western India to 2022, with a film and an oral history alongside.
It's one room, so plan it alongside the dock galleries. Entry is free, no booking, daily 10am to 5pm at No. 1 Warehouse, West India Quay.
Look for
Sugar Coated by Corrina Eastwood
Look for 3D-printed casts of her late father's hands, recalling the sugar she poured into them as a child to clean off tyre grime.
Delaine Le Bas's calico dress
In Tap Your Heels Together Three Times, a calico dress is covered in rosettes modelled on the prize her grandfather won at a horse and cart event.
Dan Turner's What Makes a Home?
Pegs and carved wooden flowers, the goods Romani women once sold door to door, set out so you ask whether they are useful or decorative.
The Romani history timeline
John-Henry Phillips's timeline runs from the westward migration of 500 to 1000 CE to 2022, through slavery, genocide and the 2010 Equality Act.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Cheap Culture
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want a big exhibition: this is one room with three artworks and a timeline.
With kids
The museum lists it as free and suitable for all ages. Parents should know the timeline covers episodes of slavery and genocide.
Also at London Museum
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- By Appointment Only: Romani Art, Culture & Heritage© London Museum
- Yuko Mohri: In ConcertCourtesy of Barbican Centre
- Robert Ryman: The Real ThingCourtesy of Barbican Centre
- Michael Landy: Future Ruins© Michael Landy. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Prudence Cuming Fine Art Photography.
- London MuseumMatt Brown / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Barbican CentreJulian Herzog / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Sir John Soane's MuseumSarah Smith / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Tate ModernAcabashi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Courtauld GalleryAnthony O'Neil / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0