Marginalized and Defamatory: Irish Travelers – Sean Sheehan’s Writing

Joseph-Philippe Bevillard Has been photographing Irish travelers and his new book for years, Minciers, Opens a window into Ireland’s most marginalized, defamatory society. Minciers A word in their language – a Sui generic mix of English and Irish known as Shelta – once a nomadic people, but now settled mostly in specially designed settlements (called stop sites). The term slimming is unfamiliar to non-travelers to the Irish, who like many derogatory words (“knuckers” are currently popular); Gypsies, one of the names still in use, have at least one romantic meaning.

Born and raised in Boston by French-born parents, Bevilard suffered permanent hearing loss at the age of three. He invented photography at the age of 19 and moved to Ireland in 2000. In those days, it was not uncommon to see travelers traveling on travelers’ tracks and the attitude of the community to the party, remembering seeing the entrance to the parking lot the large church had a low bar attached to avoid the possibility of unwanted visitation from them.

Bevillard has a more Christian approach, but his work reflects a persistent sense of alienation from traditional Irish society. He always takes photos in their own setting, even when attending religious events such as weddings and first Mass. Their reluctance to interact with others is understandable, as an essay in Peggy Sue Amison’s book explains their detrimental social status in terms of health services, housing, and education.

This makes the book somewhat unbalanced, but also increases the likelihood of celebrity optics reversing, so that the public’s outward appearance can be part of the personalities of celebrities, and sometimes they work to meet these needs. Look. There is a photo, a group of people smoking outside a church, indicating that they may be playing something like this, but the relative lack of adults in the book is reluctant to take the photo on their part, they refuse to look at the fate they know is there, and if so, any such laziness can be turned into a form of defense by denying the possibility of using the camera frame innocently; It ‘frames’ them in another, more informal sense of the word.

There are about 90 photographs Minciers But the main features of adults are only half a dozen, much more than children’s pictures. The relative absence of adults in the book makes them reluctant to take photos on their part. There is a photo of a group of men smoking outside the church, which indicates that something like this could be in danger by refusing to look critical. I know. If so, such aversion could be a form of resistance, denying the possibility of using the camera frame flawlessly; “Frame them” in the other informal sense of the word.

A remarkable photograph passes through it. About a father and daughter at the Balinaslo Horse Fair in Galway, with the youngest daughter leaning on the man’s shoulder. Her thoughtless face finds an echo in her own daughter’s meditative expression, and when taken together, their faces symbolize unarmed grief. The presence of children in the book is very strong. They play and pose with many attitudes ranging from early indifference to resignation and the knowledge of depression.

The bright and saturated colors of the pictures are balanced with the dark atmosphere outside the passenger houses: empty spaces, empty spaces, railings, fences. Photographs are innovative and honest: they are humanistic in the best sense of the word, they present individuals in their own way, and are not presented to portray a social observation or journalistic angle.

Sean Sheehan

Minciers, By Joseph-Philippe Bevillard, published Press the skeleton key