ABOUT WILLIAM     MCNEIL

William McNeil was born in Los Angeles, California.

As a youth, he avidly listened to jazz and classical music and aspired to a career as a musician. At Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, McNeil studied music education and trumpet before sighting his song in photography. It is during this period (1990) that McNeil shifted his artistic focus from music to the visual arts.

​

From 1992-1994, McNeil lived in New Orleans, La., where he studied drawing with the late MacArthur award winning kinetic sculptor, John T. Scott (through whom he would meet the curator, art historian, and artist David C. Driskell). Subsequently, Driskell purchased two photographs from the young photographer and encouraged him to attend the University of Maryland at College Park. Hence, McNeil's interest in art history, particularly 20th century American and European art have informed and enriched his visual vocabulary.

​

After studying cinematography at Boston University's graduate film school, in 2001, McNeil established residence in Brooklyn, NY, and began a career as a freelance photographer. That same year he was commissioned to travel internationally with several jazz artists and document their creative genius. These musicians, whose emphasis on the value of labor and honesty in creating music was an important creative influence on the photographer. 

​

In 2004, McNeil was invited to Namibia, Africa, by Namibian filmmaker Cecil Moller to work on four documentary film projects for Pretty Cow Movies/Namibian Broadcasting Corporation. Since his initial visit to Namibia, the artist has made multiple trips to his adopted homeland.  Bitten by the travel bug, as it were, McNeil has since travelled to China, South Korea, and most recently the Philippines where he is endeavoring on another portfolio.

                                                                           

                                                                        - C.F.S