GROWING UP TRAVELLING
Awards
PX3 | Photographer of the Year 2021
2nd Place: Budapest Foto Awards 2021 (Book)
Winner: International Photography Book Awards 2020
All About Photo | Best Books of 2020
Elizabeth Avedon's Best Books of 2020
“How wonderful!, I thought when glancing through the pages of this book and experienced what I do not recall to have ever experienced when spending time with a photo book showing people: I liked every single one of these photographs, without any reservation.”
“Should you choose to pick up “Growing Up Travelling,” it will be your reward to view the lifestyle of a culture that will not be land-bound, but rather a culture that considers themselves free. You may want to schedule some “free” time to spend with Jamie and her friends.”
“Photographer Jamie Johnson spent a number of years visiting and following along with communities of Irish Travellers — the famous caravan families that have roamed in a nomadic and tradition-rich lifestyle for generations. After gaining their trust, Johnson was welcomed into a world that may seem strange and hardscrabble to outsiders, especially the precociousness of its children, but is in fact enlivened with creativity, fashion, ancestral culture and a deep sense of freedom and adventure. It is her emotional, dark, funny, beguiling, and mysterious portraits of these children chronicled in this beautifully produced volume.”
“You start to realize how impressive this feature on the lives of Irish travelers is when you think about the nomadic aspect of their lives and how intimate these photos are. For an outsider to be given so much trust to be left with children is massive in itself. But to develop this relationship with a community that’s often alienated and misunderstood is very telling of the compassion Jamie Johnson has toward its members, and it shows in her photos. A lot of the success of photography relies on the access you can get, and the best photos are born out of a relationship developed over time.”
I'm happy to announce my first photography book, Growing Up Travelling, published by Kehrer Verlag. This beautiful black and white coffee table book is based off the beauty I immersed myself in with my travels to Ireland, specifically the Irish Traveller children. I'm quite excited and proud of what's to come, this is a project I have been passionate about for many years now and cannot wait for you to be able to take it home with you.
PURCHASE
USA
photo-eye
Amazon
Book Soup (Los Angeles)
Leica Store (Los Angeles)
Retail price: $45.00 USD plus shipping | SOLD OUT
“A photo book with pictures that have been compared to the best portraits of Sally Mann and Diana Arbus”
“The first word that comes to mind when I think of Jamie Johnson’s work is kindness. Because how can you enter a community without first having forged close ties and established a relationship based on mutual respect with the members who make it up? Jamie does this easily with her discretion and her smile and sweetness. Fully sharing the daily life of her subjects, she captures the essence and photographically reproduces this shared intimacy which can be seen in the confident eyes of her models.”
“You can see there was an intimacy in these dynamics that makes all the difference in the resulting photographs.”
“These stunning black-and-white photographs offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Traveller children in Ireland.”
“Growing Up Travelling gives us an intimate view of growing up in misunderstood and marginalized community. But more than that, it’s a loving portrait of the ups and downs of childhood, whether home is a fixed place or a caravan on wheels. There’s a mix of innocence and street-smarts in the images. They show kids being kids, just like in any other community, but they also capture the rough edges of Traveller life. Johnson’s black-and-white images show the pride and prejudice in Traveller life. Anyone who has heard her speak about the work, or read interviews with her or her own written statements (the project was a Critical Mass Top 50 choice in 2019) knows her engaging personality and how deeply she cares about these communities. But most of all, it’s a childhood of play, of dreams, and occasional tears. Johnson captures it all with compassion and humor. Her environmental portraits and snapshots of daily life are well-composed yet playful. The images are beautifully reproduced as duotones and generally printed large, many full-page and some spilling across the gutter.”
“Incredible black and white photographs by American photographer, Jamie Johnson”
“I’m blown away! Classic street photography at its best! Vivian Maier! Diane Arbus! Sally Mann!”
“In Johnson’s intense and poignant photographs, some of her young subject’s gaze at the camera unflinchingly, white others smile joyfully, but all seem validated by her camera.”
“As a mother, artist, and observer of familial connections around the globe, Jamie Johnson makes work that speaks to family, culture, and time passing, but also leaves room for humor and pathos. Jamie has a legacy of photographing children and families, close to home or in places remote and unfamiliar. Her innate ability to understand and appreciate the human condition, allows her to engage with her subjects in an authentic way. Jamie’s years-long investigation of Irish Travelers reveals her deep connection to and interest in her the lives of children.”