PROFESSOR LAWRENCE TAYLOR & MAEVE HICKEY

"Lives on the Line: The Tunnel Kids of the U.S. Mexican Border"

Taylor (Anthropologist) and Hickey (Photographer) present an account of their collaborative work on and with the tunnel kids: a gang of homeless adolescents who live and work in a 3-mile-long drainage tunnel that runs under the US/Mexico border.  Hickey’s black and white portrait of the kids and Taylor’s narrative of their lives and of his and Hickey’s interaction with the kids, puts a human face on the overwhelming world of the border.  Their work also raises important questions about ethnographic practice.

Maeve Hickey is an artist who works principally in sculpture and photography.  She has shown in solo and group exhibitions in the US, Mexico and Europe and her work is internationally represented in private and public collections.

Lawrence Taylor is Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology, NUI Maynooth.  He has done extensive research in and publication on Irish topics, including the book ‘Occasion of Faith: An Anthropology of Irish Catholics’.

Maeve Hickey and Lawrence Taylor have been working in collaboration since 1994, producing a series of books on various aspects of the US/Mexico border region; ‘The Road to Mexico’ (University of Arizona Press, 1997), ‘Tunnel Kids: Lives on and Under the US/Mexico Border’ (In Press, 2001, University of Arizona Press) and ‘Ambos Nogales: An Intimate Portrait of the Border’ (In Press, 2001, School of American Research Press).

Friday, 10th March, 2000

3 p.m.

O'Rahilly Building, Room 1.32

Followed by reception in 1.51