Chosen Family by Martin Gatti for DSCENE The New Disorder

Some families are inherited, but others are assembled like constellations, luminous individuals drawn together by survival, desire, and the unapologetic need to be seen. In Chosen Family, the full story from DSCENE The New Disorder, that idea expands beyond a single image into a collective presence, where identity forms through proximity, performance, and shared experience.

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Photographed by Martin Gatti, the story builds on the tension introduced on the cover with Amanda Lepore and CT Hedden, then extends it across a wider cast.

Each figure enters the frame with a distinct rhythm, a personal construction that holds its own logic. Together, they do not dissolve into a single narrative. They exist side by side, connected through a shared understanding of visibility, self-making, and persistence.

The story unfolds through a constellation of voices. Nikki Exotika, Rori Grenert, Lauren Chan, Hayley Kosan, Kandy Muse, Nico Rivera, Serenatea, Tyler Emmons, Snoogy Brown, Renato Dicent, Lola Von Rox, Ann-Archy Artist, Jules Santiago, Dallman, Grant Vosburgh, Kyle Farmery, Peyton Podgorski, Randy McCowan, Dylan Mekhi Etienne Ramsay, Brynn Bonner, and Dominique Silver each contribute a distinct presence. No hierarchy is imposed. No singular narrative dominates. Instead, the story moves through accumulation, where individuality defines the structure.

The idea of family here rejects stability as a fixed condition. It exists through repetition, through showing up, through occupying space together. Each participant builds identity through styling, movement, and gaze, forming a network that operates without traditional definitions. The connection is not explained. It is enacted. It exists in the way bodies align, separate, and return to one another across the frame.

Styling, grooming, and set design reinforce this dynamic. Surfaces hold tension. Materials resist softness. Nothing settles into comfort. The environment supports the figures without containing them, allowing each presence to extend outward rather than fold inward. The result is a series of images that remain active, refusing resolution.

Within The New Disorder, Chosen Family reads as a study of proximity. These figures do not search for belonging in conventional terms. They construct it, maintain it, and redefine it through constant visibility. The story proposes that family can exist as an ongoing act, built through intention and sustained through presence.

This is not a portrait of unity. It is a portrait of alignment. Each individual remains intact, yet something holds them together. A shared insistence on being seen. A refusal to disappear. A collective understanding that identity is built, not given.

Chosen Family extends the conversation started on the cover into something wider, more complex, and more immediate. It does not offer resolution. It offers presence.

Photographer MARTIN GATTI
Talents AMANDA LEPORE, CT HEDDEN, NIKKI EXOTIKA, RORI GRENERT, LAUREN CHAN, HAYLEY KOSAN, KANDY MUSE, NICO RIVERA, SERENATEA, TYLER EMMONS, SNOOGY BROWN, RENATO DICENT, LOLA VON ROX, ANN-ARCHY ARTIST, JULES SANTIAGO, DALLMAN, GRANT VOSBURGH, KYLE FARMERY, PEYTON PODGORSKI, RANDY MCCOWAN, DYLAN MEKHI ETIENNE RAMSAY, BRYNN BONNER, AND DOMINIQUE SILVER
Producer JANELLI GONZALES SAAVEDRA
Set Design COLIN PHELAN
Casting CT HEDDEN
Props MOMMY DADDY PROPS
Styling: KRISTINA KOELLE
MUA: EMINE KUCUKTIRELI

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