Kings of Rubble

For FGUK Magazine

Between 1968 and 1975, New York belonged to the gangs. Violence gripped the streets, and the Bronx wore it hardest. Then a few extraordinary people did the impossible. They declared peace, and changed the course of history.

This story takes that true event and casts it anew. Two gangs face one another, one Black and one Asian. Two communities too often set against each other, both carrying the weight of oppression, both touched directly by gang violence, and both capable of the same reckoning the Bronx once reached. The conflict is the setup. The peace is the point.

Shot by Cole Witter, the series stays close to the body and the street, finding the era in posture and texture rather than reconstructing it. The casting is where the meaning lives, and where Spirit³ began.

Kings of Rubble. Not in spite of the ruin. Because of it.

Casting| Spirit³

Creative Director & Producer| Iman Mariah

Photographer| Cole Witter

Stylist| Caleb Phillips

Lead Models| Eric & Vincent

Supporting Models| Masa, McKinley, Sonny, Yabi

CD Assistant| Jake Jaffe

PH Assistant| Ross Collab