VISUAL ARTIST

HILLARY MCCULLOUGH

The Artist

Hillary Jones McCullough is a Florida-based artist, photographer, educator, and visual storyteller. She received a BFA in photography from the University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL) and an MFA in studio art, emphasis in photography, from the University of South Florida (Tampa, FL). As a graduate student, she received an assistantship and worked as a photography lab technician, as well as an instructor of record from 2015-2017.

Jones McCullough has experience in traditional and alternative darkroom processes, and her art, photography, and performance work often explore her body’s interactions with its surroundings, and how the act of self-portraiture shapes and distorts the relationship between the two.

She is working on several photography and documentary projects, including The Birthmother Series. Her work has been exhibited widely in places like the PhotoPlace Gallery (Middlebury, VT), the Crescent Gallery (Scarborough, UK), the William Nancy Oliver Gallery (Tampa, FL), and the New England School of Photography (Boston, MA).

Jones McCullough is an adjunct instructor at UNF where she teaches courses in digital photography. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and reading.

Artist Statement

Exploratory and reflective, Hillary Jones McCullough’s salt prints carry unifying themes such as beauty in the mundane, the challenge of reclaiming vulnerability, the relationship between small moments captured in time and memento mori, and the nuanced aspects of life often overlooked by society. The technical aspects of Jones McCullough’s medium itself help fuel the intrapersonal discovery that accompanies her work; the salt print process is tedious, time consuming, and unpredictable. The imperfect nature of the process develops a natural duality to the introspective nature and themes of the work: it defies expectations yet renders a truly unique and intimate result that is impossible to replicate.