They were the inner city youth who, fuelled by punk spirit, anarchist philosophy and a hate of Margaret Thatcher, clambered aboard a fleet of battered old vehicles to shun the trappings of the modern world for a life of nomadic freedom.
Many new age travellers have ditched their battered old vans and adopted traditional horse drawn caravansAnd while today’s new age travellers appears to have taken the philosophy even further, preferring to use traditional horse-drawn caravans instead of gas-guzzling vans, they also appear to be embracing the modern technology like mobile phones, laptops and even Facebook.
During the late 1980s and 1990s stories about the travellers were commonplace – illegal raves, clashes with the police, drug busts and fury at the criminal justice act.
The travellers are a close-knit group and although many appear determined to shun the trappings of modern life they have kept up with modern technology using Facebook, mobile phone and the internetMiddle-class youngsters, to the utter horror of their well-to-do parents, flocked to swell their ranks enchanted by the romantic lifestyle, lack of rules and wandering ways.
Their rag tag convoys roamed the land from festival to festival, illegal site to illegal site, often to the irritation of landowners and local law-enforcement.
And while little has been written about the New Age travellers in the past decade, the movement has far from fizzled out.
Photographer Iain McKell, who has followed a small group of travellers for over 10 years, has published a stunning new photo book charting the changes in their life-style.
Taking the traditional gypsy lifestyle as their template many have now ditched their motor vehicles in favour of horse drawn caravans.
Mr McKell told anothermag.com: ‘It began in 1986 with the New Age motor vehicle travellers called The Peace Convoy and then when I returned to Stonehenge Summer Solstice in 2001.
‘To my surprise I found this new renegade tribe that had evolved to horse-drawn wagon but had all the modern technology as well – solar power, mobiles phones, laptop computers and off course facebook.
‘I loved this idea of the old and the new working well together and the open road.
‘This is a personal journey with new age modern travellers. The point being they have no history of Gypsy that’s what makes them interesting to me. That they have chosen to live by the road with horses keeping the tradition alive of really travelling and not staying in one place.
‘They come from our culture so they are like us rather than the traditional travellers who are from different blood.’
The photographer, who is better known for his work in the fashion world, developed close relationships with many travellers including parents, children, couples and loners.
The New Gypsies by Iain McKell, with essays by Val Williams and Ezmeralda Sanger is published by Prestel and out now.
For more information about Iain McKell’s work log on to www.iainmckell.com in the UK, www.thomastrehaft.com in the USA, www.artsphere.fr in Europe.
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