New York has always had a particular fascination with people who capture the imagination of artists. From the Factory days of Andy Warhol to the present, the city has continued to turn certain personalities into icons, capturing something of its own spirit along the way. With All About Alana, an exhibition on view through 15 November at Rectangle Room at Primary Photographic, photographer Ryan McGinley brings that spirit into the present by gathering more than thirty photographers to portray Alana Jessica Martin, an actress, model and musician who has become a familiar face in New York’s creative scene.
McGinley and Alana began working together in 2020, and their collaboration has since grown into a shared creative universe shaped by friendship, spontaneity, and a mutual understanding of NYC’s creative scene. For him, what makes Alana so compelling is an indefinable quality that goes beyond her appearance. As he puts it, “being an it-girl is about possessing an indefinable quality that inspires the artists around you. It’s just as much about a person’s charisma and presence as it is about the images created of them.” He sees this in Alana’s “natural light”, but also in the way “she makes those around her feel”, a quality that, for him, makes “shining a spotlight on her feel all the more instinctual.”
That sense of connection is at the heart of All About Alana. Bringing together the work of more than thirty photographers—including Quil Harwood-Lemons, Danielle Levitt, Vivienne McFarland, Richie Shazam, Cade Curran, Ramie Ahmed, Luisa Opalesky, Chloe Scout Nix, Marcus Maddox, and Snake Garcia, among others—the exhibition grew out of McGinley’s close-knit circle of friends, artists and collaborators, each invited to approach Alana through their own visual language. As McGinley explains, the project was conceived as “a community effort from the very beginning”, bringing together artists who’re friends and family, for whom photographing one another “feels like second nature”. Rather than offering a single, definitive image, the project allows different perspectives and photographic sensibilities to coexist. The result, as he puts it, is “a portrait not only of Alana, but of the community around her.”
The exhibition also offers a glimpse of NYC at this particular moment. For McGinley, Alana embodies the city’s restless, multifaceted energy: “She’s someone in constant motion, balancing work and play while keeping her hands in multiple projects across creative worlds.” He also sees in her a willingness to embrace the less polished side of the creative process. “She’s beautiful but isn’t afraid to embrace the grit that comes with the process of creating.” In that sense, All About Alana becomes more than a celebration of an emerging it-girl; it’s also a snapshot of a creative scene, its relationships and the spirit of the city that brings them together.
Of course, no two photographers see Alana in quite the same way. We speak with five of the artists featured in the group show to find out what draws them to her and how each has translated their own vision of her into a portrait.
Cade Curran
I first met Alana on a road trip with Ryan McGinley. I was assisting and she was modelling. I remember sitting by the fire as she described her various roles as hookers or prostitutes on shows like Law & Order, the ‘oopsie girl’ as she coined it. I was captivated. Being in her presence was so warm and magnetic. After we got back to New York, we started running into each other socially, and before long we were going out and dancing the night away. I began a project of my own, photographing cool artists and queer people, friends who I’d made through the world of McGinley. Of course, Alana was at the top of that list.
I don’t think my lens really brought anything new to her persona. She just began moving and performing. Like a fly on the wall, I watched and flicked my shutter. Now, with this show and her music career beginning, I’m tagging along for the ride, doing my best to keep up with the definitive it girl in my life, and really the rest of New York City.
Charles Caesar
I first met Alana through our mutual friend, Ryan McGinley. I’m not sure exactly when we met, but we certainly connected at Ryan's Halloween party in 2025. It's been lovely ever since. We've modelled together and gone dancing with mutual friends. I'm captivated by the different layers of Alana's personality, and it's a privilege to direct those aspects into a character or a different version of her to be photographed. She's wonderful at taking direction while bringing her own energy and vibe to the process.
When we discussed her portrait, we wanted to explore these different layers of her personality. I came up with a character based on who she really is: Alana, but two universes away from our own. She styles herself a little differently and wears clothes our Alana might not necessarily choose, but she's still a singer and a performer. The portrait takes us inside this parallel-universe Alana's imagination. I actually had her sing her debut song into the microphone while I was taking the portraits, which brought a wonderful sense of reality to our surreal world. I was really happy to bring our imaginations together. The resulting portrait is beautiful, vulnerable, fun. It's Alana.
Chloe Scout Nix
I met her the day of our shoot! Honestly, I felt captivated by how down she was to shoot that day. It was pouring rain the day of our shoot, and she drove to the darkroom I'm a member at in Bushwick, Rubylith Darkroom, and we shot there. She had a suitcase of outfit options and it really felt like I was shooting with my friend. It was that magical feeling of girlhood where at a certain point we were simply playing. We gossiped and talked about heartbreak. It felt almost cathartic for us to have that time together.
I wanted the image I made of Alana to reflect my photographic practice, so I shot her on black-and-white 120 film. My practice is primarily self-portraiture and I wanted to find a way to bring myself into the final image in some way. I decided to photograph her with my mother’s tiger blanket that she has had since college. I have photographed myself countless times with that same blanket, so I used it in our shoot as a way to unify me and Alana within my growing photographic archive.
Milan Lazovski
I met Alana last Halloween. She was decorated in rose petals for her American Beauty costume. Our conversation was brief but her presence left a lasting impression on me. The next time I saw her was at an art opening. We spoke like old friends and uncovered our mutual obsession with classic film and bombshell blondes—a wonderful foreshadowing of the work we’d make for this project.
Marilyn Monroe is a huge reference for both of us. I find everything about her legacy and work so crucial to understanding a specific point in American culture. Also, as a photographer, I find some of the most inspiring images of stardom in her photographs. It felt necessary to bring Alana into a scenario where she could immerse herself in the world of one of our greatest muses. With the help of an amazing glam and lighting team, we captured her in scenes inspired by Alana’s favorite Monroe film, Niagara. The entire process felt more like theatre than photography. We created a story of a lovelorn woman longing for someone she met on a trip to Niagara Falls. She’s pacing her hotel room, reading old postcards, and awaiting a call from the one she left behind. It felt like a perfect homage, and I had no doubt Alana could bring that level of performance. I’m so proud of the image we made together. It feels truly ours.
Rachel Filler
I met Alana on the first studio shoot that I produced for Ryan McGinley in 2023. She was one of the first models he asked me to book for that project and she really set the tone for what working with Ryan and his various muses would look and feel like. Ryan’s work has always been marked by his knack for capturing the essence of a person, and Alana’s personality is pure magic. She’s incredibly captivating and magnetic. Her way of being not only IS art but also inspires art. I think part of it is this unbridled confidence, and a bravery to take risks and be outside of her comfort zone. She effortlessly taps into an authenticity that many can’t access.
When I thought about how I wanted to photograph Alana, I knew I wanted to subvert the kind of obvious notions of the nightlife, it-girl fixture that she is. If you look at Alana’s Instagram Story at any given moment of the day, it is an ever-expanding moodboard, chock full of her visual references. I wanted to lean into something softer and less expected.
I drew my inspiration from the same blonde, bombshell figures that she’s always referencing: Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, Jayne Mansfield, Britney Spears, but images taken very early in their careers. A sweet headshot of a sixteen-year-old Britney Spears in a field, Pam and Jayne in their original test shoots with Playboy in the garden of some LA mansion, one tit out, the rest of them covered coyly. A kind of absurdly earnest moment at the precipice of their respective launches into stardom.
