Banal or Brilliant: Photographing Wichita Falls and Surrounding Communities

Jesús Manuel Mena Garza

Like my tastes in food and fashion, I prefer tried and true formulas. A simple meal and a basic pair of jeans works for me. When I look through my camera lens I want to capture the glorious details of the everyday. The simple is more elegant and less fussy than the pretentious.

Since I shoot a lot of everyday scenes I ask myself, at what point does the banal become esoteric or artistic? When I see my final edited photograph I posit,  did I produce a glorified snapshot or something more valuable?

So at what point does a simple photograph transform into fine art? Well, that decision is up to the arbiters of taste. Those anointed by our society either because of pedigree, income, affiliation or education to know better than us. The other side of the coin is that they also have a vested interest in the currency of art.

Recently, several museums, corporations and individuals have purchased photographs costing as much as $5,000,000. At that price, they definitely have a vested interest in making sure their investment appreciates (and is appreciated). The work may be poorly executed (banal in my humble opinion), but if the arts plutocracy decides the wall size print of a "department store interior" is worth millions, who are we to conclude differently. They and their minions are going to write and announce that their "piece of art" is actually worth so much more. Brilliant!

Click my (banal) photos to enlarge

Photographs from North Tejas

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.

Election Day Memories

 Photo by Ann Marie Leimer, Ph,D. Click photo to enlarge. 

By Jesús Manuel Mena Garza

It is election day. How exciting. I started voting when I was a child in San José, California. My mother could not read or write and would let me fill out her ballot. Since the beginning, in the early sixties, I supported progressive candidates and causes. In 1970 when I turned 18, I continued to vote for candidates who vowed to end the war in Viet Nam. 

Today, to me, Barack Obama is the culmination of many years of struggle. I could never let down the thousands of marchers in Selma, Delano and across the country who made his ascendency possible. On Election Day, now at the ripe-old age of 60, in the very-red state of Texas, I look forward to supporting a man I truly believe in, President Obama.

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