Houston’s reputation as an art city is nothing new. The Menil Collection alone garners international eyeballs for the Texan outpost, but what about the next generation? Photographer Cary Fagan has spent 20 years of his life in the southern metropolis with the requisite stints in New York and Los Angeles for comparison, but it’s in his Texan hometown that he feels the most potential for creative life to flourish. One of the obstacles to Houston’s evolution, as Fagan sees it now, is the unspoken competitive edge that can be felt amongst talented peers in a deep pool where opportunities run short. His solution for the issue is simple: collaboration, which is why when we asked Fagan to create a visual diary for our youth issue he turned the chance loose—inviting local creative directors, photographers, musicians, artists and models to participate in a guerilla-style shoot set around the city’s ankles. The result was two blissful days in which everyone had the chance to shine the light back and forth between each other. The blaze of their collective triumph is captured here and in more detail at @IamDiorHouston where you can find behind-the-scenes and making-of footage.
