The New Gypsies

The New Gypsies

Now available in a new edition, this book is photographer Iain Mckell's extraordinary and breathtakingly beautiful glimpse into the lives of present-day nomads whose culture is built around ideals of freedom, nature, and simplicity. Unrelated to the Roma, the new gypsies began in 1986 when a group of Post-Punk Anti-Thatcher protesters headed out of London into the English countryside. McKell followed these New Age Travelers to the West Country and over the years he watched them become a hybrid tribe-the new gypsies-present-day rural anarchists, living in elaborately decorated horse-drawn caravans. Known as "Horsedrawn," the new gypsies share a desire for sustainability, a love of self-reliance, and a disdain for the trappings of contemporary life. For more than a decade McKell has focused his lens on travelers of all ages: parents, children, couples, and loners. With sensitivity and honesty he captures a way of life that seems at once romantic, strange, beautiful, and simple. The result is a deeply insightful portrayal of a culture that eschews the traditional creature comforts of urban life in favor of the simplicity and freedom of the natural world.