Flashing Lane

Flashing Lane is a photography project initiated by Kira Bunse and Eleonora Gustapane in the summer of 2022. This documentary is the result of a trip to Appleby-in-Westmorland in the Eden District of Cumbria, Northern England, for the Appleby Horse Fair (which takes place every June and attracts around 10,000 Roma and Travellers). Having come across the history of the Appleby Horse Fair in their research - and influenced by Perry Ogden's legendary book Pony Kids (1999) - Kira and Eleonora decided to travel to Appleby with cameras to capture the event. The Flashing Lane at Appleby Horse Fair is a stretch of road where horses and ponies race, trot and run up and down. It has a serious purpose and is an integral part of the traditions and culture of the Appleby Horse Fair. It is the shop window and test run for the horse traders - the sellers and buyers. For Kira and Eleonora, Flashing Lane and what is connected with it also became a terrain of anthropological exploration, a way of examining identity and culture, coming of age and the value system within a traditionally nomadic society.