The Irish Travellers - photographic project

From emphas.is

Unknown to most outside of Ireland, the country has it’s own indigenous group of people who have a nomadic background and who are trying to maintain their distinct culture.

While visiting my friends in Ireland less than two years ago I saw a Travellerʼs camp beside the road for the first time. I was immediately interested in the people. The more I got to know about this culture, the more I was confronted with the prejudices against them - even by my Irish friends.

The Irish Travellers are indigenous people to Ireland, they are not related to the Romani. Today, the Travellers amount for between 20 000 to 30 000 people, the biggest minority group in Ireland. They have their own language: The Gammon. They are confronted with many prejudices and are often misunderstood. This nomadic group struggles to find a place in modern society but they are also faced with many challenges such as poverty and racism.

Nowadays, it is illegal to park a caravan beside the road for longer than 24 hours. Actually Travellers are only allowed to stay on halting sites with their caravans. However, it is still possible to find Traveller families living beside the road illegally, mostly without electricity, running water or sanitary facilities. There is a very high rate of illiteracy within the Traveller community as most of them reject state education.

Travellers always married young and still do so. But they do no longer share the old tradition of using a matchmaker or having their families choose a partner.

Many Irish distrust the Travellers nomadic culture. Travellers came from the “Tinker” and migrant workersʼ tradition. However, because of their way of life and social habits, they are not accepted within the greater Irish population. Most Irish distance themselves from the settled community.

The Irish Government started programs and instated anti-discrimination laws in an attempt to integrate the Traveller community into society in recent years. This attempt, however, failed because the Travellers would have had to havesacrificed their own culture, in order to integrate.

For my work it is essential that I live closely with the Traveller Community because this is the only possible way to gain intimate access to the daily lives of the people. Last summer, with the help of a friend who lent me his old VW

camper, I traveled to Ireland to join the traveling community in the hope of living for some time the same way they live. With my camera I started to explore this closed community with its many old fashioned rules.

I am interested in exploring their daily life and understanding how an originally nomadic group maintains its cultural distinctness in a modern Western European country in the 21st century. I want to examine what has led to this rupture between the settled Irish and the Travellers.

With every visit I started to become a little bit closer to the traveling community and managed to capture intimate daily moments showing traditions, which might soon be disappearing in this unique community.

With your support I can continue to photograph and finish this long-term project in Ireland.