Journey to Marfa

This Prada Marfa store is actually an art installation on the way to Marfa in the middle of the desert.

“I think Marfa is the meeting ground for people who are on a journey in life.” – Brooke Schwab, 29, a regular Marfa visitor

In the west Texas desert is a town called Marfa, home to barely 2,000 residents and three hours away from the nearest large airports in El Paso and Odessa. Since the 1970s, the area has become a gathering spot for artists from across the country, following the lead of minimalist artist Donald Judd, who arrived to the nearly vacant area from New York City in 1972 to set up his own art space.

Seeing photos of the town online, I can see why Marfa is a mecca for artists and other free-spirited types. It seems to be an infinite expanse of clear blue skies and sandy desert. Imagine “There Will Be Blood” and “No Country for Old Men”—two Oscar-winning heavyweight movies filmed in the area that definitely made good use of the desolate, but eerily beautiful landscape. And why else would big indie music groups like Wilco and Yo La Tengo make the long trip to Marfa if it wasn’t an ideal backdrop for their independent-minded tunes?

I’m writing about Marfa because I suspect it embodies this idea of personal exploration that I think college grads can relate to. In that nebulous period after graduation, many college grads make their way to Marfa to “find themselves” or just hang out for a while to delay the pressures of mainstream or everyday life.

Some use their time in Marfa as an incubating period for their budding artistic careers, like resident Amanda Mayo, 22, who came here for the first time while in high school, then returned every year for five years until landing an internship at the Marfa contemporary art museum, the Chinati Foundation. “I have met more people and have done more things here than I’ve done anywhere else in my life,” Amanda said.

For photographer Brooke Schwab, 29, the appeal of Marfa was the feeling of being away from society. “When you first go out there you feel like you’re in another world, not in the United States,” she said. Brooke started visiting Marfa regularly six years ago, then planned a massive trip there with 12 other female photographers, ages 24 to 38, from across the country. On her blog, MarfaTrip, you can see how Marfa inspired her and the other photographers.

Unlike taking a travel angle like most of the stories I found researching the town, I want to delve deeper into the micro-community of young people who come in and out or those who simply call Marfa home. What brought them there? How does Marfa affect the direction their lives will take? And perhaps more importantly, what the heck do they do out here that makes it worth living so isolated from the rest of the world?

I think I’ll be in multimedia heaven once I’m there so look out for plenty of interesting audio/visuals on this story.

But here’s the big question: Who wants to show me around?

Stories about Marfa:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/18/oscar-town-marfa-texas_n_87147.html

http://www.digitalcity.com/2009/07/08/art-in-marfa-texas-a-new-photography-collective/

http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/wanderlust-marfa-texas/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0308-tr-marfa-sidemar08,0,6999754.story