Manitou Assignment

Christopher Varano

Professor Steen

Manitou Assignment

13 July 2013

The Eye of the Beholder

            Donning the lens of a flaneur, and viewing Manitou Springs in this light, brings out the honesty in me. The idea of viewing the world (and specifically this city) not as a tourist but as a native, or an adopted native, is a little foreign to me. I am not a native nor do I particularly like Colorado, but I’m not a tourist either. So looking past the attractions and into the real fabric of the city should come naturally. 

            The first thing I notice is how ironic it is that we are doing the tourist tour of street art. Everywhere we go in our group locals look at us like we are in the way - like we’re stupid tourists. That’s when it hits me: I’m not going to tell the story of the so-called art on display that has placards and sponsors, I’m going to tell the real story of the struggling locals who live beneath the veneer of “artsy Manitou.”

Suddenly, the streets sign sing to me and the ash trays catch my eye. The statues and monuments feel like the simulated environment and they contrast with dissidence against the organic, natural environment they inhabit. Conversely the homeless, the stray dogs and cats, the bicycles, and the teenagers blend in and are almost camouflaged. The tour guide does her best to avoid these natural Manitouians and instead focuses on the imported, fake art that spits in the face of the poverty surrounding it.

Then I start to notice the signs. The capitalistic nature of this place reveals its ugly head. Get your change here, pay for parking here, sale here, sale there, 10% off on Tuesdays, and world famous tee-shirts! We are surrounded by a tourist trap engineered to maximize profits. Come to Manitou Springs for the art! (But don’t forget to spend your money). The art galleries and souvenir shops act like weak rouge applied to cover the dark underbelly of a city full of dark alleys and dusty hovels.

The question regarding digital photography and the construction of Manitou really makes no sense to me. There is no way that taking a photo means that I somehow participate to a city’s construction. The city is what it is, and if I didn’t go to class today and take those photos, everything would still be the same. What is sad to me are the discrepancies between what different people see in the same photo. I’m sure that a fellow student probably enjoyed the tour, thought the art was great, and that it really somehow contributes to city. At the same time I can say that all the tour reminded me of was how we frivolously invest in statues for the public (read: tourists) while we let our public (read: the disenfranchised of Manitou) crumble beneath our feet.