Marfa, Marfa (Rasquachismo and Minimalism in Far West Texas)

Marfa, Texas is a world-renowned art pilgrimage site. When Donald Judd moved there in 1971, he permanently installed works of art in and around town. Catalyzed by Judd’s presence, the small Southwest town is now home to galleries, arts foundations, festivals, and studios. In Marfa, Marfa, Josh T Franco examines the minimalist frameworks and aesthetic paradigms Judd brought to Marfa and how they intersect with the rasquache sensibilities of Marfa’s local Chicanx, Mexican American, and Catholic communities. Franco draws on his own family history in the town as well as Marfa’s complex history, culture, and memory, analyzing archival documents alongside the art institutions that all make up the town’s identity. Marfa, Marfa employs a decolonial and experimental method to examine minimalist and Chicanx art through objects for public display, local dialects, and domestic observations, ultimately demonstrating Marfa’s unique role as a crossroads of minimalism and rasquachismo.