Anarchy and Beauty: The New Gypsies of the World

The photographer Iain McKell follows a group of nomads known as the ‘Peace Convoy’, and portrays them in their natural environment and their enviable ideological freedom.

Over 25 years ago, the photographer Iain McKell met a group of anti-Thatcher rebels and photographed them for the Observer. The group, known as the ‘Peace Convoy’, had left the city of London to live in the countryside and travel with musical festivals throughout Europe. McKell became fascinated by these people, who he described as “a juxtaposition of anarchy and beauty”, and in 2001 he recorded them once more during the celebration of the summer solstice in Stonehenge. By then, the travellers he had met before had implemented horse-drawn carriages as a means of transport and the caravan had transformed into an environmentalist movement, a combination of hippie and punk lifestyles. Over the next ten years, McKell followed a small group of them throughout Europe, and the result of his work is a book entitled The New Gypsies, a collection of ‘casual’ photographs of this nomadic subculture.

Perhaps what stands out the most in this collection is that this group is not related to the Roma, an ethnical group found throughout most of Europe and historically known as gypsies. McKell’s subjects, instead, have voluntarily adopted aspects from the ancient nomadic lifestyle, without abandoning other aspects that keep them connected to the modern world. They have abandoned the ‘mainstream’ London lifestyle but, according to McKell, they carry mobile phones and laptops and many of them actually have Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Since they have not been recognized by the English government, it is hard to say exactly how many travellers are in the Peace Convoy. Thanks to McKell however, we know that their income comes from odd jobs, farm work, and that they live a life that resembles westerns, fairy tales with a touch of the century of the information society. And while these modern nomads are completely peaceful, they are negatively represented in the English media and are looked down upon by most of the population, who has always feared those who dare free themselves from one ideology to shape another one following their own rules and their own geography.

Perhaps what stands out the most in this collection is that this group is not related to the Roma, an ethnical group found throughout most of Europe and historically known as gypsies. McKell’s subjects, instead, have voluntarily adopted aspects from the ancient nomadic lifestyle, without abandoning other aspects that keep them connected to the modern world. They have abandoned the ‘mainstream’ London lifestyle but, according to McKell, they carry mobile phones and laptops and many of them actually have Twitter and Facebook accounts. Since they have not been recognized by the English government, it is hard to say exactly how many travellers are in the Peace Convoy. Thanks to McKell however, we know that their income comes from odd jobs, farm work, and that they live a life that resembles westerns, fairy tales with a touch of the century of the information society. And while these modern nomads are completely peaceful, they are negatively represented in the English media and are looked down upon by most of the population, who has always feared those who dare free themselves from one ideology to shape another one following their own rules and their own geography.

In his book, which is the final product of his work, McKell represents musical and artisanal skills, but what makes his work more valuable is that he portrayed their humanity and individuality fully. As warriors that have actually lived in the fantasies that most of us are only able to take as entertainment, and they escaped the traps of urban life. “In the end I focused a lot on the people. It’s a book about people. In the end of the day, that is what makes a culture”, he stated.