We Are Gypsies Now

A Graphic Diary

Danielle de Picciotto 

Artist-musician-writer Danielle de Picciotto seemed to have it all. Cool apartment in the heart of happening Berlin, adoring rock star husband, international art career, far-flung network of long-time friends, impeccable social media profile . . . Yet Danielle found herself in an existential crisis of epic proportions that no amount of binge-watching Breaking Bad could cure. When Danielle and husband Alexander Hacke renounced the idea of a “home” to become digital age “gypsies,” she began to see the clouds of despair parting before her and a better, more fulfilling way of life almost magically begin to emerge. We Are Gypsies Now! is the transcendently illustrated and emotionally transparent journal of the adventures and internal struggles of their first year on the road “with no direction home.” Experiencing We Are Gypsies Now is to embark on Danielle’s deeply personal journey and to possibly heed her call for a more imaginative approach to life in our over-mediated and covertly alienated age. 
978-1-878923-27-1
1-878923-27-7
Graphic Novels /Memoir
$19.95/Paper
208 Pages
6 x 8 1/4
 

Reviews

Switching between diary, autobiography and speculation, We Are Gypsies Now explores the nomadic option as perhaps the only possible cultural and social response to gentrification and consumerism . . . . Reading this is an inspiration, a wake-up call, and perhaps even a demand to once again embrace the liberating freedom of chance. — Jack Sargeant
It's like being handed a pair of magic glasses and suddenly seeing all of the invisible bounds and barriers blocking our creative vision. Clearly it illustrates how we are slowly starving ourselves of the inspirational sustenance we crave while choking down the dry crumbs of our dying culture. — Johanna Went
This book is as close to "home" as it gets. The adventure is in every line. Picturing Danielle drawing this work all over the world is transporting. We can see her . . . a fascinating woman, long hair in her tilted face, across a piazza or on a park bench or a rainy veranda in Mexico with a black pen and a road-ratty drawing book. The artwork is so strong it could tell a story with no words at all. — Carla Bozulich
Her drawings are sensitive, spontaneous and intuitive, perfectly transporting you into the world she is describing. — Interview magazine
Danielle de Picciotto has the talent to portray her journey in a magical, fairylike style—even the banal moments. Her story deals with the quest of searching for a place to live and finding happiness. This book could already be an answer. — Vogue magazine

 

About Danielle de Picciotto

Danielle de Picciotto is a traveler. Born in Tacoma, Washington she spent her early years all over North America due to her father’s position in the US Army until discovering West Berlin, Germany—a city which no longer exists. There she was able to interact with and influence its community for more than two decades, co-founding the Berlin Love Parade, expanding her field of artistic expression. With her husband Alexander Hacke, bassist of Einstürzende Neubauten, she decided to give up her house in Berlin to discover new horizons and has been traveling ever since.
 vulture.com interview with Danielle de Picciotto

We Are Gypsies Now