Our Houston Art Book is now available
Sophie ZermattenEdgelands Art Book III: Houston is now available on our website, alongside a newly redesigned Diagnostic Report, released to mark the occasion.
Our third Edgelands Art Book examines how surveillance and control have become woven into everyday life in one of the most diverse cities in the United States: Houston. Through a photographic series by Yael Martínez, the book explores Houston as a testing ground for security technologies increasingly deployed in the name of safety, particularly within public schools.
From AI-powered cameras to digital monitoring tools, these systems often carry heavy historical and racialized legacies, disproportionately affecting Black and Latino communities. Rather than preventing harm, they risk reinforcing punitive logics and accelerating the school-to-prison pipeline.
Martínez’s images move beyond documentation, offering a poetic and unsettling reflection on what it means to live under constant observation. Edited by Aude Py, designed by Samuel Schmidt and published by the Edgelands Institute in collaboration with Magnum Photos, this volume positions Houston as a microcosm of a global shift — raising urgent questions about surveillance, trust, and the fragile balance between safety and freedom.
