About the Artist
William Major is a lens based media artist that hails from the mountains of northeast Tennessee. His work mainly focuses on issues surrounding Appalachia and the greater southeastern United States. Major attended the small liberal arts school, Milligan College, and graduated in 2015 with a bachelor of arts in photography and humanities. He also received his master of fine arts degree from the University of Georgia in 2019. Major has shown his work across the southeastern United States as well as exhibiting in New York City, London, and Amsterdam. He has had photographs published for the editorial the New Yorker, University of Kentucky Press, and Yale University Press. He is part of the Looking at Appalachia Collection, the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University, the Art Library at the University of Georgia, the Ohio State University archives, and the Appalachian Archives at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. He is currently based in Harlan, Kentucky.
Major is primarily a documentary photographer and videographer that explores the idiosyncrasies of southern culture and fringe groups. His work looks at theatrics, performance, history, social issues, religion, the landscape, and other archetypes that overlook this culture within the context of larger American paradigms. Major works within many models of visual creation by exploring installation, sound, and performance through his work. He also engages with community led art projects in central Appalachia.