For over six years, photographer Michele Zousmer was welcomed into the Irish Traveller community while she photographed, built friendships, and learned about this unique group of people. The resulting book, Mis[s]Understood (Daylight Books, November, 2024), looks at the population as a whole but particularly focuses on the role of females within the culture. Zousmer captures the pride and tenacity of this marginalized community and the daily life struggles and discrimination that the Irish Traveller people endure in Ireland.
The Irish Travellers are different from the Roma Gypsies; genetic testing has shown that they are a distinct ethnic culture dating back to the 16th century. They have their own dialect, strong cultural traditions of large families, gender roles, and deep Catholic faith. In Ireland, they experience challenges obtaining housing, jobs, and good education and are systemically targeted politically and socially. Many still live without the basics – running water, electricity, and proper bathrooms.
Writer Elin Spring‘s essay for the book discusses a paradox within this group that Zousmer found incongruous. The community’s strict adherence to their religion enforces the belief in abstinence until marriage and a code of elder respect. However, many of the young girls and teens dress in highly sexualized ways. Spring explains the cultural reasoning that Zousmer found so puzzling. Spring writes,
“While such flirtatious mannerisms belie the reality of chaste behavior, such facades allow Traveller girls to broadcast their desire for a mate under extremely restrictive rules of dating. These caricatures of femininity are a way for girls to practice adulthood. Provocative clothing and also gesturing function as an act of rebellion against an unaccepting and often patronizing society.”
Link to Purchase Book: https://www.
An interview with Michele in GirlTalk Magazine about MIS[S]UNDERSTOOD can be found here.
BIO:
Michele Zousmer is a visionary fine art photographer who amplifies the voices of individuals and communities often marginalized by society. She shows us the tapestry of human experience with each image, casting light on lives that might have remained concealed in the shadows. Her work exemplifies the transformative power of this medium, as she possesses an extraordinary gift for immortalizing fleeting instances of grace and beauty that persist even amid life’s most significant challenges. Through her lens she invites viewers to journey into the worlds she captures, becoming a storyteller, an advocate, and a pathway for change,
Instagram: @michelezousmerphoto
