Virginia native Rebecca Moseman received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1997 and her Master of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2001. She has worked in academia, private industry, and Government as an instructor, consultant, and graphic designer and does freelance work in photography and publishing. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US and abroad and has been selected on the cover of Black+White Magazine, and featured within Black & White Magazine, GUP, Resource, DodHo, and SHOTS Magazine. She is a Critical Mass Top 50, 2018 and 2019 and an alumnae of the Eddie Adams Workshop XXXII.
The Irish Travelers, A Forgotten People
This series of photographs documents the lives, culture and traditions of the Irish Travelers, a forgotten people. The images reflect my personal interactions with the Travelers I have met and followed through the years at various halting sites, and illegal encampments in and around County Galway and County Limerick, outside of Dublin and at the annual horse fair in Ballinasloe.
The Irish Travelers are an insular ethnic group that has lived on the fringes of mainstream Irish society for centuries. They live an itinerant lifestyle, with long traditions and gender-based roles that have been passed down from generation to generation. Discrimination is widespread, school dropout rates are high, domestic violence is rampant, and suicides are increasing. For better or for worse they are slowly changing and soon their old way of life will be lost to modern society. My goal in making these photographs is to document them and their way of life as it is now, and to display their unique heritage and unconventional yet historic way of living to a wider audience, in and outside of Ireland. They are mainly invisible to the Irish citizens, and they are desperate to have their stories of hardship heard and their unique culture appreciated and shared around the world.
To view more of Rebecca Moseman’s work please visit their website.