Zachary McCauley’s (b.1988 Anniston, Alabama) work explores themes of identity, family, and interpretation through photography, video, audio, and performance. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Louisiana Tech University in 2016. Zachary’s work has been exhibited nationally at venues including the Mobile Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Masur Museum of Art. His work has also been published in magazines such as Aint-Bad Magazine and PDNedu. Zachary and his wife Hannah live and work in San Antonio, Texas.
Sons and Daughters
My childhood and young life in Alabama were steeped in poverty, loneliness, and disconnectedness from my blood-kin. I responded to my family’s perceived shortcomings by shaping my life into one of drug use and heavy drinking for a period of time before leaving home after marriage.
I returned to visit after two years of self-induced exile. During the first pilgrimage, I began to understand the frailty of my family and childhood home. The rooms I remembered had become hollow shells while my own bedroom was sealed away like a memorial. My mother and grandmother have become older. I see them now and understand the loneliness they carry as the burden to my leaving.
These photographs are the keepsakes created to remember my own given family and the growing relationship with the family I gained through marriage, all while navigating my own shifting role among the two.
To view more of Zachary’s work please visit his website.