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ANTHONY HAUGHEY
Born Northern Ireland; resides Republic of Ireland

Anthony Haughey's photographs are a part of a research-based project on conflict titled "Disputed Territory."   In this long-term study, he explores issues surrounding identity and nationalism among groups that claim the same geography in four areas of Europe: Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Basque Country.  In his imagery, Haughey concentrates on the aftermath of border and territorial dispute, as it is reflected in and on the landscape and environment.  The selection on display demonstrates two of his visual strategies: showing the overt detritus and residue of war—such as in Shotgun Cartridges, Northern Ireland and Destroyed Files, Bosnia—or subtle traces of hostilities in seemingly mundane scenes.  In Minefield, Bosnia, for example, a piece of colored plastic tied to a branch becomes charged when we learn the reason for its presence.  In Meja, Kosovo, we peer into a wooded area, only to notice a grave decorated humbly with faux flowers. Haughey asks us to consider these boundaries, lines, and markings and how they echo and influence the human condition.

Born in 1963 in Northern Ireland, Haughey studied Film, Photography, and Video at Surrey Institute of Art and Design and is currently a research fellow and member of Interface, a research initiative in art and design at Ulster University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.  His work is included in numerous collections such as the National Museum of Film, Photography, and Television (Bradford, England) and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, England).  Other related published projects include The Edge of Europe (1996), a study of Irish diasporas to America's East Coast, and Monitor (2001), a portrait study of security and surveillance workers (both Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland).  He recently received an Arts Council (Ireland) Visual Arts Bursary 2005 to complete a collaborative video installation project with a group of Asylum-seekers based in Mosney, a former Butlin's holiday camp located north of Dublin. In support of this current project, Haughey received several awards, including a grant from the Arts Council of Ireland and an international award from the Mosaique Programme.  The Dublin Institute of Technology and the Gallery of Photography, Dublin, will publish a catalogue of Disputed Territory within the next year.  Notably, this marks the first time this series will be shown in the US. >>>