Contributed by Stuart & Andrew Hetherington
The Hetherington family have strong connections to the United States. Stuart’s uncle, Paddy Hetherington was involved with the Old IRA and left Ireland for New York in 1931. Something of a character, his passage from Derry to New York City was paid for by Stuart’s father, Hugh.
Stuart Hetherington was an award-winning cameraman with RTÉ. He travelled to New York to meet up with his uncle at his home in Queens, nearly fifty years after Paddy first left Ireland. Paddy subsequently returned to Ireland for a family reunion.
Stuart and his wife Terry had three sons. Their eldest son, Andrew (born in Dublin in 1969) emigrated to New York in 1995. He was awarded a ‘Donnelly Visa’, under the Visa Lottery scheme which enabled over 20,000 Irish people to get a Green Card and live permanently in the united states.
Andrew stayed with Paddy and his wife Katherine in Queens for a few months to enable him to find his feet Stateside. Andrew followed in his father’s footsteps in the lens-based arts — he is now an acclaimed photographer living in New York. Father and son have collaborated on a series of photographs Andrew calls the ‘Dadcation’ project, made during Stuart’s recent vacations in the United States.