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out of the South. In 2000, she flew to NYC and secured contracts with XXL and The Source magazines for a commissioned series to capture a nascent Texas music scene that was about to explode upon the national consciousness. That would be Southern rap — Houston's hip-hop scene to be precise. Francis was there in the earliest days, in the early 2000s, tapped by Mathew Knowles to record Destiny's Child. Francis became a family friend. A white chick from a pedigreed Houston family might not seem like the expected choice to document the edgy rap scene, but Francis was always an iconoclast — ballsy, a woman who took up skydiving around the world, after traveling to Russia and Ukraine to document jumps where she was tethered to a helicopter to avoid tumbling out the open doors. CUE THE CURATOR Christine Starkman, the founding curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Arts of Asia Galleries and current POST Houston curator, has organized a magnum-opus retrospective of Pam Francis' portraits and written the accompanying book that promises to secure the late photographer's legacy. A selection of Francis' images of musicians debuts in November at POST Houston — part of the OMA New York / Jason Long-designed building's grand opening. The entire exhibition unveils at the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, in April 2022. When Pam Francis passed away in the summer of 2020 due to complications from hip surgery, there had already been talk of a book and exhibition, and the photographer's family commissioned Starkman for both projects. The curator was geared up to meet her subject but never got the chance. But Francis' work was able to speak for her. Twelve interviews and 50,000 transcribed words later, and after an intense half-year of research, the book Pam Francis Photographs launches this month. The biggest discovery the volume yields is not the Texas Monthly magazines covers — which would have made this a book about the past — but was found in a box of slides. This bin that looked unpromising yielded the ultimate reward for Starkman. She held a sheath of slides to light and recognized one of the subjects: Bun B, whom she knew from her time at the MFAH. She rang him up. Bun B graciously worked with Starkman to identify the rapper images that form the core of the exhibition at POST and comprise perhaps the most thrilling discovery about Francis' career. HERE, CHRISTINE STARKMAN SHARES THE JOURNEY TO PAM FRANCIS PHOTOGRAPHS. On your process. Christine Starkman: How did I transcribe 50,000 words in just three months! I started interviewing the first week of February [2021]. I had access to her computer in her apartment. Digital files. I went through them and made a preliminary selection. Then I saw the archives. I went through film and slides and contact sheets; that was in 2020. The archive was brought to the office. I'm so glad we were able to produce a book. Her two brothers, Craig Wilson and Welcome Wilson Jr., were so generous and gave me freedom. When I was in the middle of it, it was kind of organic. I felt Pam was there, guiding me, with all her markings. What's interesting is I would do it on my own in the office, going through binders, folders, images, selecting, selecting, selecting. When I looked at the person, whoever it is — Ann Richards, for example — the picture I selected is the one that was published. It was strange. I was also relying on my museum training, looking at works of art and the best picture. I was even using her loop. For the slides, and film, I would go through and ask myself, 'Which one would she like?' I felt like I was the photographer. In the archive. CS: I just finished an inventory, I'd say 10,000 images. A lot of pictures, digital, scans; I have 19 boxes. When I was invited to take on the project, it was overwhelming. Then it became this adventure and discovery of her work. Craig [Wilson] didn't even know the scale, especially of the rappers. On a hip-hop gold mine. CS: I have a whole set of binders just for Bun B and the rappers, done for XXL and The Source, which were the bibles of hip hop in the late 1990s and early 2000s. People had forgotten she photographed for them. Well, if you're not in the genre, you don't know. It was 20 years ago. Pam was there at the beginning. She had promotional material. She had these beautifully Christine Starkman Pam Francis' Lyle Lovett, 2001 JOHNNY THAN 79