Much of his work was made in abandoned farmhouses in the central Kentucky bluegrass region during family weekend outings and in derelict spaces around Lexington.
Passing away himself just four years later, Meatyard's early death "came at the height of the 'photo boom', a period of growth and ferment in photography in the United States that coalesced with the political and social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s."