About

Hello! It's KATE MCAULEY here — an Australian-born, New York–based writer, photographer, and visual artist.

At heart, I’m a storyteller. For more than two decades, I’ve travelled, lived, and worked across ten countries and visited more than a hundred others, documenting people, places, and cultures through the lenses of art, travel, and fashion.

My work has appeared in a wide range of international publications, including Bon Appétit, The Australian, Art Almanac, Elle, Esquire, Time Out, Harper’s Bazaar, The Big Issue, Lodestars Anthology, Jamie Magazine, Huffington Post, Grazia, and Square Meal.

I've also created content and campaigns for, among others, YouTube, Google, the Moroccan Tourist Board, Jamie Oliver, Match.com, Stylist, Control Risks, St James Trust, Flinders Lane Gallery, and the Sydney Opera House. And, as a ghostwriter, I’ve penned a number of celebrity memoirs too. 

Alongside the glossy bylines and passport stamps, however, is a life that’s been anything but straightforward.

I’m currently writing Hostile Environments: A Love Story, a memoir about the dangerous places I’ve been and the extreme (and often absurd) situations I’ve survived - from being questioned by Cameroonian police under suspicion of espionage and caught in the crossfire of rioting raskols in Papua New Guinea, to surviving trauma, loss, and a life threatening illness.

As a companion to the book, I also publish The Hostile Environments Project on Substack - an ongoing collection of essays, reflections, and behind-the-scenes notes on process that expand on the themes of the book. 

If you would like to work with me, I welcome commissions of all types. You can also support me as I write Hostile Environments by subscribing to my Substack or purchasing an original artwork, print or product I currently have available on this website.