Iain McKell: The New Gypsies, a Different Way of Life, Simplicity and Freedom...

London based photographer Iain McKell offers an extraordinary glimpse into the lives of a real and raw group of present-day nomads whose culture is built around ideals of freedom, nature, and simplicity. The New Gypsies are British horse drawn travelers. The movement began in 1986 when a group of Post-Punk Anti-Thatcher protesters headed out of London into the English countryside.

Iain McKell spent the last 10 years documenting and living with travelers of all ages: parents, children, couples and loners. His use of fashion aesthetics, a romanticized pallet of colors, and his intentional rejection of many of the visual traits of traditional documentary photography, offers a beautiful series of photographs of this invisible and ignored community.

Known for his work around youth subculture, Iain McKell's photographs have appeared in numerous major publications such a i-D, V, Italian Vogue and Sunday Times.

The New Gypsies

@Iain McKell

Courtesy Iain McKell / Clic Gallery, NYC

The New Gypsies at Clic Gallery, NYC

August 29 - October 2, 2011

Opening reception and book launching

September 15, 6-8pm

Via Trouvaillesdujour

 

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Comments

[Hannah Johns]

06:03 PM on 09/01/2011

http://iainmckell.iainmckell.com/#1660352/Journey-with-Kate
See what I mean?

[Hannah Johns]

06:02 PM on 09/01/2011

They are just a little too precious. As a hippie who has lived in all types of places without abandoning my hippie soul, I have to say that dress doesn't make the hippie. I just don't know what else to say about them letting themselves become the subjects for this book. I wouldn't have let my life be sold like that. I don't think calling the Gypsies is appropriate either.

[LiamS]

11:27 PM on 08/29/2011

It's been said, but bears repeating. These are not to be confused with actual roma/romani gypsies. The roma are an ethnicity with a thousand years of history in Europe and elsewhere, their own traditions, language(s), and culture. One does not choose to be roma. One is born roma - just as one is born jewish (the people not the faith).

These people documented in the book are those who have chosen to live off the grid in a psuedo-idealized caricature of the traditional anglo-romani gypsy lifestyle. These are not even travellers (irish or other). Something new and different altogether, and not to be confused with the older ethnic groups.

[Lawrence Bullock]

01:34 PM on 08/29/2011

I have no real romance for Travelers after one of them picked my pocket in Galway Ireland. How do I know it was a Traveler? Because I caught him doing it. Yes, freedom, well, it certainly helps if you're preying on other people. I'm sure none of these free spirits do that, though.

[garystartswithg]

03:53 PM on 08/29/2011

one equal all? then all white people are Hitler, which I have no problem with -- we can try you all and put you to death and it will be super easy, thanks for helping with that.

[camanokat]

12:46 PM on 08/29/2011

It reminds me of the Rainbow Tribe hippies here in the US. A lot are nomads, homeless by choice.

[garystartswithg]

09:42 AM on 08/29/2011

I think people are missing these aren't Romani -- they are British kids tossed aside by the intolerance of the Thatcher regime. Intolerance begets intolerance and the 80s spawned thousands if not hundreds of thousands of homeless kids in the United States too.
Are we romancing Romani culture or romancing the intolerance and hatred in our culutre?

[CabCurious]

10:47 AM on 08/29/2011

This group goes back way farther than that...

[garystartswithg]

11:54 AM on 08/29/2011

did you read the article? this isn't playboy.

[CMB1969]

11:33 AM on 08/29/2011

Are these really "homeless kids"? It would take a fair amount of money to buy an authentically-recreated wagon and a team of horses. This bunch strike me more as a bunch of philosophy & art history majors who have found a creative way to blow Daddy's money.

[vietveter]

09:22 AM on 08/29/2011

And have a nice, free life.

[Edward Standley]

05:52 AM on 08/29/2011

Gotta be careful, when a movement becomes "fashionably hip", it's not long till it becomes a caricature of itself.

[Luke McIntosh]

05:26 AM on 08/29/2011

I think you're confusing the "hippies"--of which some remain in nomadic lifestyles but the majority settled down and re-absorbed back into society--with actual Travelers who are an ethnic group of Roma descendants who live nomadic lifestyles in the UK & Ireland, with a large contingency having migrated to the US in the last few hundred years.

From the photographs they're Travelers, though after a while the hippies would have/could have been absorbed into Traveler groups. Though to be fair, these are much more drastic looking Travelers than you would normally see. Pikies would be another term for them. Think Brad Pitt in Snatch.

[garystartswithg]

09:35 AM on 08/29/2011

if you read they are "post punk", the caravan started in the 80s. Throw away kids thanks to Thatcher. The United States has a lot of them too, but they are usually homeless, a caravan would be a luxury, they migrate on trains -- one big bunch of kids and they have a lot of dogs with them.
Its really not a statement about being Romani, its a statement about extremeties of intolerant hatred for your young -- something that resonates a lot on Anglo culture for some sick reason.

Not many Pikies look like Brad Pitt -- that was a movie.

[Coleoptera]

01:23 PM on 08/29/2011

Where do you come up with these inaccurate fantasies? They were willing participants, not throw away kids. Please read the article for what it is, not for what you want or wish it to convey.

[Seamus1975]

12:36 AM on 08/29/2011

The new gypsies look a lot like old hippies.

[SuuperG]

02:38 PM on 08/28/2011

Fascinating. I'm particularly drawn as Ive named my blog Gitana, which is Spanish for gypsy. I think we do romanticize these nomadic people and their culture, and fill in our ignorant gaps with dance and other pursuits that represent freedom. Thank you for this expert! G

[AlPal3]

12:41 PM on 08/28/2011

Cute. Good material for a screenplay.