New Gypsies
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The New Gypsies
by Iain McKell
The Summer Solstice in 1985 witnessed the new phenomenon of New Age Travellers in the ‘Peace Convoy’,
double-decker buses ‘with Dickensian characters sporting battered top-hats and Victorian frock-coats’ – ‘gangs of
urban subcultures let loose in a rural setting’. Margaret Thatcher sent police to ‘de-commission’ their convoys.
From those beginnings have evolved the New Gypsies. Now ‘horse-drawn’, the New Gypsies sport elaborately
decorated caravans and share a desire for freedom and the open road, self-reliance and a disdain for the trappings
of contemporary life. However, these new nomads are also driven by their desire for sustainability in today’s
world; they embrace technology, a grapevine watered by the latest gadgets and solar power. Their roaming
existence is probably greener than any other element in society.
Iain McKell’s photographs of this new group of itinerants reveal his deep-seated attraction to both the people and
the lifestyle, and betray mixed perceptions of a romantic life coupled with a hard one. The women exude a ragged
glamour; the male subjects have a harder edge. But every photo is permeated with a wistfulness and sense of being
a proud outsider.
The New Gypsies, by Iain McKell, with essays by Val Williams and
Ezmeralda Sanger is published by Prestel price £24.99 in hardcover,
128 pp, 80 colour illustrations (ISBN 978-3-7913-4519-2). Iain McKell’s
New Gypsies exhibition will be in New York: The Clic Gallery 424
Broome Street New York, NY 10013 (30.8 –2.10.11 Tue-Sun 11-7,
t: 212-219-9308 www.clicgallery.com); and Paris: acte2galerie, 41 rue
d'Artois 75008 Paris (13.10 –15.11.2011 Mon-Weds 10-13, & 15-19,
Sat 13-19, t: 01 42 89 50 05, www.acte2photo.com).
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