Tyler Mitchell and Carlos Nazario on Capturing Texas for America’s 250th

In a podcast with Vogue, photographer Tyler Mitchell and style director Carlos Nazario discuss their collaboration on the Summer 2026 issue's feature "Lone Star State of Mind: Snapshots of Texans Today." The duo first met when Mitchell interned at Art Partner. Mitchell, who shot Beyoncé's September 2018 Vogue cover at age 23, emphasized the need for diverse voices in photography. For the issue, they documented modern Texan life and American diversity, including subjects like Ruth Deng and her family, an Austin escaramuza team, a Houston cowboy crew, and Texas Southern University's marching band. They shot partly in Big Bend National Park along the Texas-Mexico border, a choice made more poignant by then-ongoing border wall plans (since canceled). Mitchell stated, "We have to look at the South to understand the dynamics of this country." The feature, titled "Coming Home," responds to the challenge of recognizing America's semiquincentennial amid turmoil.