Acclaimed war photographer and cultural anthropologist Teun Voeten gained unprecedented access to the netherworld of tunnel people, a group of homeless people in Manhattan who created a life literally underground. For five months in 1994 and 1995 he lived, slept and worked in the tunnel. With him, we meet Vietnam veterans, macrobiotic hippies, crack addicts, Cuban refugees, convicted killers, computer programmers, philosophical recluses and criminal runaways. Voeten describes their daily work, problems and pleasures with humor and compassion. He also witnessed the end of tunnel life. The tunnel people were evicted in 1996, but Amtrak and homeless organizations offered them alternative housing.
Some succeeded in starting again above ground, while others failed. In
Tunnel People, Voeten tracks down the original tunnel dwellers and describes what has happened in the thirteen years since they left the tunnels.
Teun Voeten studied Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy in the Netherlands. An award winning photojournalist and author, he has worked covering the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza.
"Finally, after countless portrayals of one of the most highly publicized existences, Voeten is to be commended for his honest and explicit view of New York's underworld. I salute his efforts and sacrifices to the highest. " --Bernard Monte Isaac aka Lord of the Tunnel, former tunnel resident.
