About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherSyracuse University Press

ISBN-100815604769

ISBN-139780815604761

eBay Product ID (ePID)562650

Product Key Features

Number of Pages86 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NamePeople of the Road : the Irish Travellers

SubjectIndividual Photographers / General, Europe / Ireland, Photoessays & Documentaries

Publication Year1997

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaTravel, Photography

AuthorMathias Oppersdorff

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight22 Oz

Item Length10 in

Item Width8.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN97-020568

Dewey Edition21

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal941.5/00491497

SynopsisLiving along country lanes in tents and barrel-top wagons, Travellers have for centuries been a people apart from Irish society. Photographer Mathias Oppersdorff first encountered them twenty-eight years ago in County Kerry at Puck Fair. His photographs--often stark and disturbing, yet always humane--offer a profound look at people at the crossroads of their existence. Although the Travellers themselves now concede that education and settling down are important factors for a good future, the pull of tradition is strong; many Travellers miss the open road and are ill at ease leaving a life that, for centuries, has been uniquely theirs. Oppersdorff's photographs take us through some of the most turbulent times for the Travellers. Although in years past they were defined by their nomadism, more recently many have chosen to live in housing projects and trailer parks, partially due to government-sponsored subsidies. As a result, traditional roadside tent-camps are a thing of the past. The photographer states that the themes revolving around the human condition are his forte. When some of his earlier photographs of the Travellers first appeared in a one-man show in New York City, A. D. Coleman wrote in The New York Times, " Oppersdorff] is an honest and gutty photographer with much to say.", Living along country lanes in tents and barrel-top wagons, Travellers have for centuries been a people apart from Irish society. Photographer Mathias Oppersdorff first encountered them twenty-eight years ago in County Kerry at Puck Fair. His photographs--often stark and disturbing, yet always humane--offer a profound look at people at the crossroads of their existence. Although the Travellers themselves now concede that education and settling down are important factors for a good future, the pull of tradition is strong; many Travellers miss the open road and are ill at ease leaving a life that, for centuries, has been uniquely theirs. Oppersdorff's photographs take us through some of the most turbulent times for the Travellers. Although in years past they were defined by their nomadism, more recently many have chosen to live in housing projects and trailer parks, partially due to government-sponsored subsidies. As a result, traditional roadside tent-camps are a thing of the past. The photographer states that the themes revolving around the human condition are his forte. When some of his earlier photographs of the Travellers first appeared in a one-man show in New York City, A. D. Coleman wrote in The New York Times, "[Oppersdorff] is an honest and gutty photographer with much to say.", This is a pictoral history of the travellers of Ireland. Photographer Oppersdorff records the transition from nomadism and exclusion from ""society"", to the concessions to education and settling down in housing projects and caravan parks., Living along country lanes in tents and barrel-top wagons, travellers - or tinkers, as they often are called - have for centuries been a people apart from Irish society. It was in County Kerry at Puck Fair that photographer Mathias Oppersdorff first encountered them 28 years ago. His photographs - often stark and disturbing, yet always humane - offer a profound look at people at the crossroads of their existence.

LC Classification NumberDX217.O66 1997