Three Photographs From the Series
Wichita Falls, Texas: Isolation, Abandonment and Loss
Near Oklahoma, exists the city of Wichita
Falls, Texas. The glory days of Wichita Falls are but a distant memory.
Downtown buildings blue and gold have long been empty. Desolate suburban
streets lead to unrealized subdivisions. The poor live on the margins while the
rich can leave town. Every community has its positives and negatives. Residents
here enjoy a simpler life. Housing is dirt cheap and parking is never a
problem.
No majestic mountains, crystal clear
rivers or historic infrastructure to photograph here. Jesús Garza is forced to focus his lens on the more
mundane. Issues of isolation, abandonment and loss are examined in his new
work. Garza photographs decaying infrastructure and the endless landscape. They
are embedded with symbols of the ordinary.
Locals brag about the Texoma landscape. It lays
flat at the Southern edge of the great American prairie. Garza often traveled to
the edge to see what has been built or fallen. On the margins of Wichita
Falls are extensive fields of cotton, grass, oil and gas. The red soil obscures
the essential fuels that drive the local economy. While taking these
photographs, Garza found solace in interpreting the landscape, simply. Typical of
many photographers he enjoyed revisiting and reexamining past
adventures. Possibly seeing more the next time around.
Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston have grown exponentially over the past decades while Wichita Falls seems the worse for wear. There is no rush to live here, now. The area has become a refuge for those with few options. This new book project is dedicated to those hardy souls who make this wind-swept corner of Tornado Alley their home. This project offers eloquent visual testimony of their tenacity. Their future embedded in this dusty patch of Texas..
Click photo to see larger version.
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