From family life to fairground glamour, across Ireland and the UK, the photographer wanted to show a different side to a group whose way of life is dying out

‘Come in,” a woman yelled at Sam Wright from her caravan, “you’re gonna get soaked!” He was at the Appleby horse fair in Cumbria to photograph the UK’s Traveller community in June 2020, but wasn’t having much luck in the pouring rain. Over a cup of tea, Corrina Chapman asked if he would take her family’s portrait and then spent the next 10 minutes calling everyone. Parents, uncles, cousins and lots of kids trickled into the caravan until about 12 people were crammed inside. In the chaos, Wright, who had recently become a father, took one of his favourite images, of a man holding a baby; capturing a tender side to Travellers not often seen in the media.

The photographer, whose great-grandmother was of Traveller heritage, wanted to create “a new and more honest portrayal” of the community, who have been caricatured and criminalised for decades. Before photographing the series, Wright had heard the flippantly racist comments Travellers face, being warned that they might be hostile or steal his equipment. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. They were “really warm, kind, passionate people”, he says. “It was super welcoming.”