The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People

This series of photographs is a personal journey that documents the lives, culture, and traditions of the Irish Travelers, a forgotten people. The images are a result of my deep and meaningful interactions with the Travelers I have met.

The Irish Travelers are an insular ethnic group that has lived on the fringes of mainstream Irish society for centuries. They live an itinerant lifestyle, with long traditions and gender-based roles passed down from generation to generation. Sons commonly take over jobs or enter trades their fathers and grandfathers have practiced for hundreds of years. Daughters are encouraged to marry early, and families with eight to twelve children are not uncommon. As a result, discrimination is widespread, school dropout rates are high, domestic violence is rampant, and suicides are increasing.

However, the lives of Travelers are changing in many positive ways. Recently recognized as an Indigenous Ethnic Group by the Irish government, Traveler families find it easier to live in government-serviced halting sites rather than continue their nomadic lifestyles. Teenagers are trying harder to stay in school, graduate, and pursue careers outside the Traveler community. Young women are waiting longer to marry and have children. For better or worse, the Travelers are assimilated bit by bit.

My Irish Travelers series is ongoing and started in 2017. I have been back two other times since then to continue my project. One of the greatest joys is revisiting families I had previously photographed and meeting new travelers and their families. The travelers are a proud community eager to have their stories told to the settled Irish and people outside of Ireland. But unfortunately, they feel mistreated, regarded unfairly, and misunderstood by their fellow countrymen.

Although the Travelers have had a reputation for violence and criminal behavior, I found them to be generally friendly, approachable, and tragically misunderstood. Therefore, it is essential to document the Travelers as we know them today, to collect a photographic record of a unique people and their traditions before they disappear.

My project plan is to develop my series on the Irish Travelers. I intend to travel back to Ireland to photograph the families and individuals within their halting sites and illegal encampments. I will incorporate multimedia elements such as audio and video excerpts to enrich my story of the Travelers and expand my photographic documentation. Through exhibits, I want to display the Travelers' unique heritage and unconventional way of living to a broader audience, both in and outside of Ireland. Therefore, I plan to pursue more opportunities for solo exhibits. I will have prints made to take back to the Travelers I have photographed previously. I also plan to revisit book publishing offers from various publishers in hopes of designing a book. Finally, I will use some of the proceeds collected to give back to the Traveler community, who have been so kind to allow me into their community to photograph and tell their stories.

My goals for this project:

  • Photograph the Travelers in their living spaces, and include other everyday events with their particular Traveler traditions, such as first communions, weddings, and funerals.

  • Expand my photographic documentation into audio and video by interviewing Travelers. Use video as an additional layer to the photography.

  • Edit photographs into a tight body of work to be displayed in an exhibit or made into a book.

  • Create an exhibit that tells the story of the Travelers through both photography & multimedia.

  • Get prints made & framed.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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An older woman stands beside her daughter in the car as they prepare for the Ballinasloe Horse Fair Parade. The Ballinasloe Horse Fair is Ireland's oldest annual horse fair and attracts Travelers who come for the week to buy and sell horses. It is a tradition for women and young girls to dress up and parade around the grounds, showcasing themselves to attract potential husbands.

© Rebecca Moseman - Two brothers arrive home to their halting site after school and gather their ponies.
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Two brothers arrive home to their halting site after school and gather their ponies.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Christina plays on a makeshift playground within her halting site while her dog watches over it. Traveler children do not have access to natural play areas or playgrounds, so they are forced to make play areas from materials within their halting sites.

© Rebecca Moseman - A group of Irish Traveler teenagers ride around the fairgrounds on their horses.
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A group of Irish Traveler teenagers ride around the fairgrounds on their horses.

© Rebecca Moseman - A young traveler gazes into a mirror, showcasing her father's shed behind their family caravan.
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A young traveler gazes into a mirror, showcasing her father's shed behind their family caravan.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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JJ, a young teenage boy, sits at the kitchen table in his family's caravan, surrounded by family members. He asks questions about American life and trends. Although he and his siblings can hear, JJ lives in a deaf Traveler community.

© Rebecca Moseman - A young boy emerged from his caravan in Limerick, Ireland, holding a pellet gun to see who had come to visit.
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A young boy emerged from his caravan in Limerick, Ireland, holding a pellet gun to see who had come to visit.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Two young Traveler mothers return to their halting site. It is common for young traveler women to marry early and have many children.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Three young travelers pose next to a horse trailer at the Ballinasloe Horse Fair. The boys often follow their fathers around the fair to learn about the horse trading business.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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A young traveler girl named Philomena eats her dinner from a tray at her family's roadside encampment. Meanwhile, her family dog is begging for food. Traveler families usually keep several dogs around their encampments to control rodent populations and deter strangers.

© Rebecca Moseman - A young traveler girl sits alone in her family's empty caravan by the roadside.
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A young traveler girl sits alone in her family's empty caravan by the roadside.

© Rebecca Moseman - Biddy, a pre-teen traveler, poses outside her shed, showcasing her family's new halting site.
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Biddy, a pre-teen traveler, poses outside her shed, showcasing her family's new halting site.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Two young girls mimic their older sisters as they pose for the camera. Young girls are encouraged to marry early and have many children. Girls as young as eight begin to dress and act proactively to attract men to gain their "freedom" from the restrictions of their parents and the Traveler community.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Philomena sits in her family car at an illegal encampment, watching out the window while her mother visits with relatives. Many travelers have family members who reside in halting sites, while others choose to live traditionally, like their nomadic ancestors, beside the roadways. Some people temporarily stay in these illegal encampment sites as they wait for a space in a halting site, which can ta

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Two traveler cousins stand beside their horse trailer at the Ballinasloe Horse Fair. Their families have been going to the fair to trade and buy horses for many years.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Two young traveler girls show off their fancy accessories. It is traditional for teenage traveler girls to dress up and parade around the Ballinasloe streets during the annual Ballinasloe Horse Fair. Young girls often mimic the older teenagers who are encouraged to marry young to gain freedoms and privileges.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Three sisters parade around the streets of Ballinasloe during the annual horse fair with their babies. Traveler girls are heavily chaperoned from the age of puberty until marriage, and Traveler rules about dating and associating with boys are very strict. Many girls feel this is too confining and try to "marry early to get freedoms."

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Illegal Encampment, Limerick, Ireland. Danny looks out of his caravan window at the visitors to his encampment. He lives in a one-bedroom caravan with his seven siblings.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Alisha and her friends from the Labre Park halting site outside Dublin, Ireland, play in the street while watching the boys in their neighborhood with suspicion.

© Rebecca Moseman - Image from the The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People photography project
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Billy, Steven, and Paddy, three Irish Traveller boys, live at the Carrowbrowne Halting Site. Their playground is an abandoned car, a stark reminder of the lack of natural areas for them to play. The absence of recreational space leads to feelings of boredom, frustration, and aggression, which they sometimes express by vandalizing the car. The Carrowbrowne Halting Site, located on the outskirts of

The Irish Travelers - A Forgotten People by Rebecca Moseman

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