An Lucht Siúil (The Walking People) | Mark Garry @ Roscommon Arts Centre

This film explores the relationship between Irish travellers and Modernism, specifically the relationship between Irish Travellers and the Irish state as it is played out between the traveller and settled communities in the middle part of the last century.

The film’s narration in five song sections adopts the theatrical structure of a Greek Tragedy performed partly in English and partly in Shelta (de Gamon /Cant), the language of the Irish traveller. These songs, written by the artist, act as a poetic response to Ireland’s complex relationship to land and land ownership, and the relationship between the peoples who share this land.

This film was commissioned by Roscommon County Council under the Per Cent for Art Scheme.  

Excerpt from Vox Durabilis: an archive in five Sundays written in response to the show