-
-
William works as a photographer on fine-art, commercial and editorial projects. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek, his assignment work has garnered awards from American Photography and PDN and been licensed by publishers and magazines from around the world. A recipient of a J. William Fulbright Fellowship, his work has been exhibited both in the states and abroad. To date he has published six photographic artist books and monographs - The Line - Pensacola, FL 12-8-2017, Palm Springs, Mental Hygiene, and NYC Clubs, Empire, and In Nepal. William lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife, Martha, and their two boys.
Magazine Work
The New York Times Magazine
The New Yorker
Bloomberg Business Week
Time
ESPN, The Magazine
Esquire
Vanity Fair
GQ
TinyVices / Milk Studio
New York Magazine
W Magazine
Dear Dave Magazine
O, The Oprah Magazine
Real Simple
Fast Company
Fortune
The New York Times
Adbusters
Bloomberg Markets
Selected Clients
Eileen Fisher
Droga 5
Footlocker
MZ Wallace
Fabrica 718
Merge Records
Yvette
Keap
John A. Hartford Foundation
Ballinger Architects
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Steuben
Spacecraft Design
The Children’s Place
Education
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, MFA, Photography, May 2002
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, BA, Anthropology, May 1995
Fellowships / Awards
American Photography 36, “Can Preventing Seizures Alter the Course of Autism?” Kevin Lightner, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City. September 2019.
American Photography 33, Winner. Cover Photographs. Design by
Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers, Finalist Nominee, 2011
Photo District News, 30 Emerging Photographers Award, 2005
Santa Fe Center For Photography, Project Competition Finalist, 2005
J. William Fulbright Fellowship, Kathmandu, Nepal 2002-2003
San Francisco Art Institute, Merit Fellowship for Graduate Studies, 2000-2002
Selected Exhibitions
What Does Democracy Look Like, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL 2016 (Group)
Inventing Downtown, The Uranian Phalanstery, Printed Matter, NY, NY 2017
MoCP at 40: Selected works from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL 2016 (Group)
Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles, Paris Photo, LA, CA 2015
Lit, Albany International Airport Gallery, 2015 (Solo)
Homespun, Albany Public Library, Albany, NY, Curator: Judie Gilmore 2014
Slaves of Mimesis: Ten Years on 23rd St., Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, NY 2014
Rising Waters: Photographs of Hurricane Sandy, International Center of Photography / Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY, 2013
UNSEEN Photo Fair Amsterdam, FOAM (Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2013
EMPIRE, May Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO, 2013 (Forthcoming Solo)
The Insides: Artists and the Home, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, 2013 (Forthcoming Group)
Looking at the Land, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence Rhode Island, 2012 (Group)
Peripheral View: States of America, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, Curator: Karen Irvine 2012 (Group)
Lishui Photography Festival, Lishui, China. Curator: Karen Irvine, 2011 (Invitational)
New York Photography Festival, The City Made Me Do It, Brooklyn, NY 2010, Curator: Sophie Morner, 2011 (invitational)
Humble Arts Foundation New Art Photography Vol. 2, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, 2011
TINYVICES: NEW WORK, NEW YORK, Levi’s Photo Workshop, New York, NY, Curator: Tim Barber, 2010 (invitational)
Scope, Humble Arts, Basel, Switzerland, Curator: Amani Olu, 2010 (invitational)
Between the Bricks and the Blood: Transgressive Typologies, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, NY 2010 (invitational)
‘Tis of Thee, Los Angeles Month of Photography Festival, Los Angeles, CA, Curator: Jessie Cowan, 2009 (Invitational)
What Makes You So Special, Capricious Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY Curator: Mark Jacobsen, 2008 (Invitational)
New York Photography Festival, Various Photographs, Brooklyn, NY
Curator: Tim Barber, 2008 (Invitational)
In Nepal, Jackson Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, WY, 2008 (Solo)
Photo New York, SFAI Alumni Show, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY, 2005 (Invitational)
In Nepal, Atrium Gallery, Simon’s Rock College of Bard College, Great Barrington, MA 2005 (Solo)
Nepal: Photographs by William Mebane and Linda Connor, University Art Gallery, The Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ 2004 (two person)
In Nepal, Angie Newman Johnson Gallery, Ainslie Art Center, Alexandria, VA 2003 (solo)
In Nepal, Siddhartha Gallery for Contemporary Art, Kathmandu, Nepal 2003 (solo)
Interior Spaces: Public and Private, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2002 (solo)
Crossing Bridges, recent work by San Francisco Art Institute faculty and graduate students, CBS Marketwatch, San Francisco, CA. Curator: Richard Berger, 2002 (invitational)
Portraits: Boarding School, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2001 (solo)
Don’t Ever Change, Picturing High School, Tuttle Gallery, McDonough School, MD. Curator: Susan Hayman, 2001 (invitational)
Young Photographers United, Capco International Exhibition, Capco. Tokyo, Japan, 2001 (invitational)
Vivid: Juried Exhibition, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA. Jurors: Kevin Chen, Marnie Gillett, Michael Shapiro, Rose Shashana, 2001
Beneath the Surface, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA. Juror: Chien-Chi Chang. Honorable mention. 2001
Recent Work, Artists’ Television Access Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2001
Collections
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Il
John and Sue Wieland Collection
Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Photography Collection, Akron, OH
Fulbright Commission, Kathmandu, Nepal
San Francisco Art Institute Library, Special Collections
Artist Lectures / Visiting Artist
Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Visiting Artist, September 2013
Parsons, New York, NY. Visiting Artist, October 2012
Museum of Contemporary Photography, September 2012
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Visiting Lecturer, Spring Semester 2012
Parsons, New York, NY. Visiting Artist, October, 2011
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. Visiting Artist, January 2011
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Visiting Lecturer, Fall Semester 2010
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. Visiting Artist, November 2010
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Artist Lecture, November 2010
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. Artist Lecture, March 2010
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Artist Lecture, March 2009
Bowling Green State University, Columbus, Ohio. Artist Lecture, February 2008
Jackson Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, WY. Artist Lecture, February 2008
New York University, New York, NY. Visiting Artist, September 2006
International Center of Photography, New York, NY. Visiting Artist, October 2005
Simon’s Rock College of Bard College, Great Barrington, MA. Artist Lecture, February 2005
University Art Gallery, The Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ. Artist Lecture, October 2004
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, Visiting Artist, October 2004
Halsey Gallery, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. Artist Lecture, August 2004
University of Charleston, WV. Artist Lecture, September 2003
Ainslie Art Center, Episcopal High School, Alexandria, VA. Artist Lecture, October 2003
Selected Publications
Adbusters, America, Volume 20, Number 2, Issue #100, 2012
The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2, Humble Arts Foundation, New York, NY, 2011
Capricious Magazine, Issue #12, 2011
Dear Dave, The Swimsuit Issue, Volume 3, Issue 9, 2011
Adbusters, American Autumn, Volume 19, Number 6, Issue # 98, November 2011
Out Here in Kathmandu, essays by Mark Liechty, photographs by William Mebane; Martin Chautari Press, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2010
The New York Times Magazine, “More Than One Way to Take Over a Bank,” David Leonhart, 2 February 2009.
The New York Times Magazine , “Don’t Look Back: Why Obama is not FDR or Kennedy or Lincoln or History,” Matt Bai, 1 February 2009.
The New York Times Magazine, “First Nation; McCain and Obama Both Say America Should Lead the World,” Christopher Caldwell, 1 June, 2008.
The New York Times Magazine , “Marriage Partners: What Heterosexuals Can Do on Behalf of Gays Who Want to Marry,” Kenji Yoshino, 1 June, 2008.
Various Photographs, Photographs by Various Photographers, edited by Tim Barber; TV Books, New York, NY, 2008
Bibliography
Albany Times Union, Amy Griffin, "No Place Like Home," 14 May 2014
Wallpaper, James Reid, “Emerging Talent at Amsterdam’s Unseen Photo Fair 2013,” 9 October 2013.
The Guardian, Sean O’Hagan, “A window on weird: step inside the Unseen Photo fair in Amsterdam,” 2 October 2013.
Feature Shoot, Villeburg: A Carefully Arranged Photographic Collection of Randomness,” Matthew Leifheit, 1 May 2013
Time Magazine Lightbox, “A Major Case of ‘the Mondays’: Photographs of Office Life,” Myles Little, 24 April 2013
Chicago Tribune, “Other Visions of Home at Elmhurst Art Museum,” Lori Waxman, 06 March 2013
THE NPR PICTURE SHOW, What's The Landscape Of Modern Landscape Photography? Claire O’Neill, 13, November 2012
Fototazo, "Looking at the Land," Kevin Thrasher, 11 November 2012
American Photo, “ ‘Looking at the Land,’ a Digital Survey of 21st Century Landscape Photography,” John Mahoney, 2 October 2012.
Time Magazine Lightbox, “Looking at the Land from the Comfort of Home,” Paul Moakley, 26 September 2012.
PHOTO/arts Magazine, “Looking at the Land: 21st Century American Views,” Christopher H. Paquette, September 2012
Chicago Reader “United, divided, or indefinable? ‘Peripheral Views: States of America’ at the MOCP,” Allegra Kirkland, July 24, 2012.
Time Out Chicago, “MoCP Journeys Through the Landscape of the American Psyche,” Franck Mercurio, July 2012.
La Lettre de la Photographie, “Hyers + Mebane Empire, “ Severine Morel, 21 June, 2012.
Fototazo, “Martin Hyers and William Mebane,” Kevin Thrasher, 2 March, 2012.
Lenscratch, “William Mebane,” Aline Smithson, 4 May, 2011.
The New Yorker, Goings on About Town, Between The Bricks and the Blood, 3 May 2010
The New York Times, “New York Photo Festival,” Ken Johnson, 16 May, 2008.
Exhibition Catalogue, “Conditions of Modernity,” Stranger in Nepal, Mark Liechty, 7 November 2003.
The Greenville News, “Emerging Nepal”, John C. Stephenson, 3 August 2003
Kathmandu Post,“Saddhu with his Jeep, near Mugling,” Yuyutsu RD Sharma, 22 June 2003
Nepali Times, “Being Seen,” 13-19, Wayne Amtzis, June 2003, Number 149, 17.
Kathmandu Post, “Nepal’s Changing Mores,” Yuyutsu RD Sharma, 4 June 2003, 12.
Bay Area Reporter, “Truth and Illusion,” Will Shank, 9 February 2001.
Peekreview, “Best Baltimore Exhibitions, Don’t Ever Change, Picturing High School” 10 October 2001.