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‘People don’t like us living near them’
Ruby Fischer hails a photobook that celebrates the freedom, delight and mischief of childhood among Travellers
[Jamie Johnson]

Growing Up Travelling: The Inside World of Irish Traveller Children
by Jamie Johnson
Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg £35


US photographer Jamie Johnson specialises in documenting the lives of children across the globe.

From the jungles of Laos to the streets of Kathmandu, her work investigates the many cultures of growing up around the world and for the last few years she has journeyed between Galway, Limerick, Cork and Tipperary, photographing the lives of Irish Traveller children, whose portraits come together in a wonderful collection published by Kehrer Verlag.

The foreword by Mary M Burke helpfully places the images in context: a historically nomadic and non-literate minority, Travellers have lived on the fringes of Irish society for centuries, working trades and providing short-term labour to sustain a life on the move.

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