Assembly’s innovative new platform and business model helps photographers navigate the complex and evolving world of art and commerce.

Ashlyn Davis Burns and Shane Lavalette are known as dedicated, artist-focused members of the photo community through their work with Houston Center for Photography and Light Work respectively. In 2020, as the COVID pandemic forced us to reconsider where and how we work, the duo left their institutional positions to found Assembly.

Operating virtually as an art agency, gallery, and creative studio, and with minimal physical overhead, Davis Burns and Lavalette are determined to support their clients in all the various roles they occupy, not simply as makers in a ravenous capitalist market.

I spoke with Lavalette and Burns about their exciting vision.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with Ashlyn Davis Burns and Shane Lavalette