Browse and shop from Desmond Burdon’s most previous exhibition:
“Settling The Travellers”
January 2025
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"The Irish Travellers, or Pavees, embody a rich nomadic tradition that has shaped Ireland’s cultural landscape for centuries. Moving between horse fairs and open roads, they have preserved their identity through oral history, craftsmanship, and an enduring connection to movement. However, in the mid-20th century, the Irish government initiated efforts to "settle" Traveller communities, particularly in urban centers like Dublin. This forced transition has been fraught with difficulty, raising profound questions of identity, displacement, and cultural survival.
Through this series, I explore the tension between tradition and assimilation, capturing the resilience of the Travellers while confronting the complexities of modern Ireland. Using layered textures, shifting landscapes, and fleeting figures, I seek to reflect both the freedom and the fragility of a culture caught between past and present. In a world that often demands conformity, what is lost when movement ceases?”
Horse Bags explores the deep-rooted connection between the Traveller community and their nomadic heritage, symbolised through the figure of the horse.
Horses have long been central to Traveller identity—representing freedom, movement, and tradition.
In this work, the imagery of a woman with bags, shaped like or evoking horses speaks to the tension between this cultural history and the realities of modern urban life.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $1450 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $750 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $450 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
Two teenage Travellers on horseback linger in the open streets of North Dublin — part lookout, part broker, fully aware. Behind them, two cars idle, windows barely ajar, as money and contraband trade hands in plain sight.
The title carries a double charge: “Horse” — both the literal mount and street slang for heroin. What appears, at first, as a fleeting nod to culture, is in fact a raw portrait of survival, visibility, and neglect.
There is no rush. No fear. No intervention. Authority keeps its distance. In this world, tradition and trauma ride side by side.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $750 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $450 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $350 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
A young Traveler stands in a field, visiting his horse, his faithful dog by his side.
He looks towards the looming apartment blocks-a symbol of a future being shaped for him, not by him.
An electric scooter leans against a bale of hay, contrasting sharply with the horse that, just a generation ago, would have been his only transport.
Beams of light break through the clouds, casting a dramatic glow over a moment of quiet conflict- between past and present, freedom and containment.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $1250 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $500 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $350 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
Two Traveler mothers - one walking her child, the other a heavy shopping bag-walk through the streets of a North Dublin housing estate. Among passing residents and roaming horses, they move with quiet determination, almost unseen.
The mother walking her child radiates care and love, even as she is aware of the weight of knowing (large heavy bag) the hard life ahead for the child.
The Artwork captures a moment of resilience and quiet dignity-an everyday act of survival in a world that offers little sense of belonging.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $1250 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $500 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $350 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
This digital collage explores the lives of two young Traveller teens, now living in tough apartment blocks far from their traditional way of life. Raised in a culture built on movement, horse trading, and self-reliance, they now face a world that sees them as outsiders.
With few options and little support, they follow the example of older peers—learning how to get by, often through hustling or small-time crime. They are judged harshly by society and the law, labelled as trouble, rather than understood.
The work questions what happens when a group with deep cultural roots is forced to adapt to a system that doesn’t accommodate difference. How much should a community change to fit in? And how much should society stretch to make space for those who live outside the norm?
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $950 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $400 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $300 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
in this scenario, a young Traveller takes his horse into the elevator of a high rise apartment block- an image both surreal and quietly powerful.
Inspired by a moment in the Irish film The Commitments, this work isn’t about whether the event truly happened, but about the clash between two ways of life.
The horse, a strong symbol of Traveller tradition and freedom, feels out of place in the tight spaces of modern housing.
The image speaks to how poorly government policies have matched the needs and culture of the Traveller community- and to the quiet resistance that remains.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $950 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $400 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $300 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
In this visceral work, the clash of fighting horses bleeds into the bare-knuckle brawls of men - a raw interpretation of how disputes are settled within the Travelling community.
Strength determines justice. Around them, the crowd watches in silence, not as spectators, but as a kind of jury.
Honour is on trial. In the muscle and sweat, dominance is decided, grudges laid to rest.
Man and beast locked in a ritual older than law - where justice is not spoken, but fought for.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $1250 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $500 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $350 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
This artwork portrays twin boys from a Traveller family living in North Dublin tenements. Based on a photo, it weaves together their urban reality with elements of Traveller life—horse-drawn caravans, summer horse fairs, and an open fire with a kettle.
Growing up fast in a tough environment, the boys embody resilience, living between state-imposed housing and a culture rooted in movement.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $950 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $400 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $300 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.
In this concluding piece of the Settling the Travellers, a powerful nocturnal scene unfolds beneath a moonlight sky.
A large group of Travellers stand around an open fire, gathered not in celebration, but in quiet resistance. Behind them looms a stark high rise housing block - an emblem of forced settlement and erasure of nomadic life. Their horses, symbols of freedom and tradition, linger in the corners of derelict car park.
The fire at the heart of the artwork, crackles and the smoke mingles with the night. The flames cast long tall shadows of the men- phantom-like giants that seem to rise from the ground, echoing the presence of ancestors who once roamed the Irish landscape with dignity and freedom.
This artwork holds memory and mourning in tension, capturing the resilience of a people caught between past and present, freedom and confinement- a visual requiem for the past, and a haunting reminder of cultural displacement.
Mixed Media
Prints in the highest quality;
Hahnemuhle 310gsm, Archive inks
Limited Print runs:
A0: 84.1 x 118.9 cm - 1 Print - $1250 NZD ea.
A1: 59.4 x 84.1 cm - 2 Prints - $500 NZD ea.
A2: 42.0 x 59.4 cm - 3 Prints - $300 NZD ea.
Framing Available at request,
please enquire.