I had previously been researching in the library for books on Irish Identity and picked up a few to browse through. One in particular was entitled: Of Irish Descent by Catherine Nash and was interesting in that it talked about how Irish history, in particular The Famine, religious divide and the Civil War, influenced their culture and the way that the Irish people and their descendants are perceived and indeed perceive themselves on a global level. I think that it will be an invaluable reference book as a lot of the material is directly relevant to both the thesis and the final project.
I recently read a book entitled Gypsy Girl by Rosie McKinley. It was a very interesting insight into Irish traveller culture and tradition and how strongly it is valued. Similar to the Irish community in that religion played a very important part in their lives, the author narrated her experiences of growing up in a traveller family and how changing times affected the values and ideals of the travelling community. The author highlighted the bigotry and ostracism that the travelling community encountered on a regular basis, a prejudice quite similar to that faced by Irish immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly the first half. There were signs on the doors of some public establishments stating “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish” as late as the 1960’s!
I recently read a book entitled Gypsy Girl by Rosie McKinley. It was a very interesting insight into Irish traveller culture and tradition and how strongly it is valued. Similar to the Irish community in that religion played a very important part in their lives, the author narrated her experiences of growing up in a traveller family and how changing times affected the values and ideals of the travelling community. The author highlighted the bigotry and ostracism that the travelling community encountered on a regular basis, a prejudice quite similar to that faced by Irish immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly the first half. There were signs on the doors of some public establishments stating “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish” as late as the 1960’s!
The book inspired me to look up traveller photography and I came across the news of the High Court appeal regarding the eviction of travellers from the country’s largest illegal site, Dale Farm, Basildon. I also came across a webpage entitled The Advocacy Project by Susan Craig-Greene who spent two years, from 2009 to 2011 with the travelling community at Dale Farm. The result of this collaboration was a photographic project featuring residents of Dale Farm. By erecting a simple white background on site and gaining the support and trust of the community, she was able to create a photographic collection some of which are reminiscent of the work of Richard Avedon. I think that the photos really capture the community spirit and the strong family values of the subjects.
© Susan Greene
I have enclosed a link to the project.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advocacy_project/sets/72157623770759967/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advocacy_project/sets/72157623770759967/show/
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