Traveling With Lola

(The Story of Marfa, Texas)

Valentine, Texas, is an area spanning 320 measly acres with a population of 67, no stop signs, stores, or houses with intact roofs (at least from what I observed). If you find yourself here, it’s possible you’re a long haul trucker or just a road tripper with a broken GPS. In search of the nearest town with a gas station, McDonalds, or motel, you’d probably speed past the quaint building on the side of the road without seeing its simple sign deeming it “Prada Marfa.” 

The Prada Marfa art installation is a permanent sculpture created by artists Elmgreen and Dragset in 2005.  It looks like a small, standalone Prada storefront, but it’s actually a non-functional sculpture placed in the middle of the West Texas desert. The building resembles a minimalist Prada boutique with a beige stucco exterior, large display windows, and the official Prada logo. 

Inside, there are Prada shoes and handbags from the 2005 collection, donated by Miuccia Prada herself. 

However, the door is permanently locked, and the items are unreachable. In fact, the structure was designed to gradually decay into its surroundings.

I must admit that since learning about this random and bizarre art installation, the allure Prada Marfa and its namesake town of Marfa have held a grasp on me. The dichotomy of luxury and barren landscapes, consumerism and no consumers, consumerism vs. practicality, all strike a chord within me. While a disturbing commentary on today’s social and economic climate, this art installation equally fascinated and captivated me.  

But it also makes for a good photo op for my fellow influencers. 

Marfa, Texas, is full of random, bizarre, weird, quirky, captivating sites, projects, and art. 

It’s a misfit town of artists, craftspeople, motorcyclists, and others, who are connected by a few main blocks, that look like a Hollywood set of a 1950s nuclear test site. Everywhere we went, there was no hurry with any services or requests. On the whole, the townsfolk were slow but friendly. This sentiment connects this town of misfits, and forces you to slow down to take in the art of the restaurants or bars, or be fully present to watch the occasional tumbleweed crossing the highway.

Even upon arrival, I began to feel it. This visceral sense of being “away” from it all. And there is something so charming about the town as a whole. 

I originally heard about Marfa from planning an Indagare client’s photography-driven road trip. As it turns out, I’m not the only one drawn to this oasis in the middle of the Texas desert. In 2012, Beyonce rented farmland nearby and was seen at Prada Marfa and El Cosmico, an “artistic campground of vintage trailers, yurts, tents and other nomadic accommodations,” and our accommodation for the night.

We elected to stay in a temperature-controlled Yurt in the middle of El Cosmico and, yes, it is as cool as it sounds. 

Our short time in Marfa was enough time to fill my stomach and my soul. My microbiome was healed by an organic brunch of eggs, breakfast potatoes, and toast from The Sentinel,  the local newspaper that daylights as a cafe to keep the lights on. We had happy hour negronis at Hotel George, and the next morning I enjoyed a nurturing (and scrumptious) bowl of oatmeal with flax and pepitas seed and a spiced chai latte from Mutual Friends Coffee Shop to warm my stomach and cold hands.

On the 30-minute drive back from Prada Marfa, the scenery flew by our window, the slowness of the sunset seemed to stretch on forever. 

That evening, we ventured to the Marfa Lights viewing station hoping to get a glimpse of the mysterious orbs of light said to be seen streaking across the night sky or hovering ominously in the distance. 

We shivered our butts off in the January Texas cold while standing in the concrete walls of the viewing station, so we caved and moved to the car to stare out across the empty field. With my head tilted back to rest against the glove box I could fully absorb the scene above us: the pitch black sky speckled with bright stars, clearer than I’ve ever seen before. I noticed a star pattern in a smiley face shape. In that moment, I felt connected to something bigger. I felt a sense of calm wash over me. This vague smiley face, laid out in the bright stars above seemed to whisper everything is going to be ok. 

And everything is ok.