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These
photographs were made at the Smithfield horse fair in Dublin during the
period April 1995 to March 1997. Perry Ogden had become interested in the
Nike clad kids who were riding horses around the public housing estates
that ring the city - places like Ballymun and Finglas, Clondalkin and Coolock,
some of the most deprived and heroin infested urban areas in the country
- and set out to document this sub-culture at the horse fair where the kids
would congregate on the first Sunday of the month. The importance of this
work is significant as the introduction of The Control of Horses Act has
effectively outlawed these kids, and the closure of Smithfield is a real
possibility. Over the last ten years Dublin has experienced a process of
social and cultural change. The impact of western culture and the development
of many inner-city areas led Perry to investigate these transformations.
The work explores identity, and the relationship betwen cultures and practices
brought and found. Perry's approach is that of a photographer but also as
someone intwinned in the community's social culture. This position has enable
him to approach his subjects with sympathy and reflection. The transcribed
oral interviews offer audiences layres of meanings here, as they signify,
not only hidden and unseen histories, but amplify and present each person
in an equal and unmediated way. Pony Kids has culminated in an extensive
exhibition tour and a publication. |