Juliet Klottrup shines a light on the cultural heritage and collective strength of the UK’s Travelling community

Juliet Klottrup lives on a long road in the north-west of England that connects Yorkshire to Cumbria, and so every summer, Travellers make their way past the photographer’s window on their way to Appleby Horse Fair. Developing a curiosity for this annual pilgrimage taking place across her daily landscapes, the photographer’s recent short Travelling Home and surrounding photo series, aims to preserve the experiences of the Gypsy and Travelling communities across the north-west.

The photographic social documentary is a continuation of the deep immersion of Juliet’s image making into local communities and her ongoing focus on “people and their connections to their landscapes and the natural world”. In similar spirits to her previous documentary project on the political urgency of moss and her portraits of the rural youth of Northern Britain, Travelling Home celebrates the rich culture and heritage of the Appleby Horse Fair — a British tradition dating as far back as 1685.

Starting out on her own photographic pilgrimage back in 2019, the photographer “set off on walks, meeting families en route to the fair on well-worn rural roads, in lay-bys with bow-top wagons, on horseback, or using motor vehicles”, all with the aim to frame portraits of a diverse range of fairgoers, in this yearly focal point for the horse trade. Over the years, Juliet has been warmly welcomed by families, “sitting with them through all kinds of weather and hearing their lifelong memories of Appleby” as she’s captured groups and individual characters on her film camera.

This is how the photographer met Joe Cannon — the short film’s protagonist and a Traveller and retired farrier, “out on the Moors a few years ago with his horses and wagon”, she says. “Joe’s voice and portrait embodies a deep passion for his heritage and culture. The way he has lived and continues to live, journeying with his horses across the landscape despite the changing world around him, felt more important than ever to capture in a portrait on film.” Making the short then was Juliet’s most recent development in the ongoing series, and a way for the photographer to “breathe life into the still images through collaboration and trust”.

Shooting analogue across still and moving images meant that there was a slowness to Juliet’s process of documenting that she thinks always allows for more time together. “Everything starts with conversation. I never underestimate the intimacy of taking someone’s portrait”, she says. “The best portraits are collaborative, when we decide together what to capture and where.”

Up against the ongoing marginalisation of the Travelling and Gypsy community, Juliet’s photography and filmmaking serves as a counter to countless negative media portrayals and the exclusion of these communities in “non-Travelling environments”. Travelling Home hopes to shine a light on the community’s journeys and question a culture of discrimination: “It feels more important than ever to preserve the collective strength of their rich ancestral heritage,” Juliet shares. “I will continue to photograph what I see; family, ceremony, gentleness and tradition.”

“It’s a privilege to be trusted to tell Joe’s story and to have taken these portraits over the years [...] I deeply respect the community and value documenting its contemporary legacy. This work feels both local and personal to me.” With many more summers ahead, Juliet hopes to continue the series with Joe’s sentiment of “not forgetting where you’ve come from and who you are” as a valuable lesson to journey with. “His history,” she says, “like so many others is etched into this landscape and shouldn’t be forgotten.”

A portrait from the series was a winner of a Portrait of Humanity by The British Journal of Photography in 2020 and the short has been selected for four BAFTA qualifying film festivals, and nominated as a finalist in the Yarns short film competition, a programme created by Stitch Editing.