
NOMINATED BY DANA SCRUGGS
26—PARIS
A sought-after photographer, director, and musician, Jak Bannon has collaborated with the likes of Travis Scott, David Guetta, and Netflix. He will release his debut album in 2026.
“Early in my career, I was making work to prove to people that I could make things that were cool. Now, I really make photographs for myself. That’s my rule: If it resonates with me, there’s somebody out there who feels the way I feel who it will resonate with too. The most ideal situation for me to make work in is collaborative. Even if I just have another person to have brain friction with, it just makes everything so much better.
Pressure definitely makes me creative. I know if I have a shovel and a bunch of dirt in front of me, that if I keep digging, eventually I’ll get to the diamond. Sometimes there are projects where you have to get a jackhammer to get through and find the good idea. And sometimes there are projects where you know you don’t want to shovel what’s in front of you.
I do like to go [into] more surreal and abstract [territory] because abstraction can help to mirror how we feel internally. Sometimes people really resonate with stretching an image or blurring something. It’s a blissful under-standing, like, Oh, I’ve never seen that in real life, but I’ve felt that feeling.”


