It’s such a pity that poverty and lack of education and an authoritarian church caused what can only be described as mass religious psychosis, the idea of something like that today would be rightly laughed at.
Fuckofaflower on
Could afford all the fancy pictures but not a good haircut between them.
BoruIsMyKing on
Yay!!! Theocracy is great craic..
VonLinus on
There’s the lads now
justformedellin on
I think there’s 10 kids alone on the front row. All one family?
Edit: a hard life.
Margrave75 on
My dad was born in the 40s, one of 11, plus two infant deaths.
The mid-terrace 3 bed house (THREE FUCKING BEDROOMS) was renovated to a one bed townhouse in tbe early 00s, and even at that I thought it was bloody tiny. How the hell 11 kids were raised in there I’ll never know.
One thing my dad always says looking back is “of course we had nothing, but we were NEVER hungry, there was always food on tbe table”, like, HOW?
CWMMC on
How I expect the Burkes house to look
ya_bleedin_gickna on
It’s really sad how much control the church had over the everyday lives of ordinary people.
justformedellin on
This is a great photo, a great post, it’s got me thinking a few things which hopefully I will be able to articulate clearly:-
– this is a photo of poverty
– what you’re seeing then is all the symptoms of poverty (lack of education, lack of birth control, lack of good nutrition, etc.)
– there will be a gut reaction for some viewers to blame these people for their own situation – of course they’re broke when they’ve had 10+ children and they’re religious fundamentalists.
– This is completely to miss the point. They, like us today, are just the products of their background, influences, opportunities, economic and political situation, etc.
– this is how privileged or just lucky people cone to blame the poor for their own poverty. We come to imagine that they are living the lives they deserve. That’s a load of bollocks.
– the equivalent today is poor people who are very fat and we (or I anyway) disdain them for this and think it’s self-inflicted. Again, it’s a symptom of their economic situation and cultural influences.
– similarly these people have pinned their hopes and identity to Catholicism. They have done this in a certain historical, political and cultural context which they did not choose. Today working class people pin their identity on Canada Goose or some nonsense and it’s very important to understand that better well off folks still just pin their identity and hopes and some other nonsense but that’s all just nonsense too.
– so hopefully good photography like this can engender a greater sense of empathy in the viewer.
– I should say that I am not over weight, I emphasise personal responsibility in my life, I do not have 10+ children, etc.
shockingprolapse on
Well holy god
BICEP_Pool on
No condoms
Lincoln04_LAX on
Wonder if they are muslims
yourboiiconquest on
Can almost hear the pleading of children
beargarvin on
Could’ve done with a few Eucharistic condoms. That’s a big household!
SpunkyButts on
Cue Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Every Sperm is Sacred!
Smoked_Eels on
not a condom in sight, just people living in the moment.
18 Comments
Supposedly photographed [here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/3YfibhfnJsLLHj5GA)
From The Poole Photographic Collection @ NLI.
creepy af
It’s such a pity that poverty and lack of education and an authoritarian church caused what can only be described as mass religious psychosis, the idea of something like that today would be rightly laughed at.
Could afford all the fancy pictures but not a good haircut between them.
Yay!!! Theocracy is great craic..
There’s the lads now
I think there’s 10 kids alone on the front row. All one family?
Edit: a hard life.
My dad was born in the 40s, one of 11, plus two infant deaths.
The mid-terrace 3 bed house (THREE FUCKING BEDROOMS) was renovated to a one bed townhouse in tbe early 00s, and even at that I thought it was bloody tiny. How the hell 11 kids were raised in there I’ll never know.
One thing my dad always says looking back is “of course we had nothing, but we were NEVER hungry, there was always food on tbe table”, like, HOW?
How I expect the Burkes house to look
It’s really sad how much control the church had over the everyday lives of ordinary people.
This is a great photo, a great post, it’s got me thinking a few things which hopefully I will be able to articulate clearly:-
– this is a photo of poverty
– what you’re seeing then is all the symptoms of poverty (lack of education, lack of birth control, lack of good nutrition, etc.)
– there will be a gut reaction for some viewers to blame these people for their own situation – of course they’re broke when they’ve had 10+ children and they’re religious fundamentalists.
– This is completely to miss the point. They, like us today, are just the products of their background, influences, opportunities, economic and political situation, etc.
– this is how privileged or just lucky people cone to blame the poor for their own poverty. We come to imagine that they are living the lives they deserve. That’s a load of bollocks.
– the equivalent today is poor people who are very fat and we (or I anyway) disdain them for this and think it’s self-inflicted. Again, it’s a symptom of their economic situation and cultural influences.
– similarly these people have pinned their hopes and identity to Catholicism. They have done this in a certain historical, political and cultural context which they did not choose. Today working class people pin their identity on Canada Goose or some nonsense and it’s very important to understand that better well off folks still just pin their identity and hopes and some other nonsense but that’s all just nonsense too.
– so hopefully good photography like this can engender a greater sense of empathy in the viewer.
– I should say that I am not over weight, I emphasise personal responsibility in my life, I do not have 10+ children, etc.
Well holy god
No condoms
Wonder if they are muslims
Can almost hear the pleading of children
Could’ve done with a few Eucharistic condoms. That’s a big household!
Cue Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Every Sperm is Sacred!
not a condom in sight, just people living in the moment.