Lesley | Love, Marfa
This is Lesley and her store Love, Marfa (@xoxomarfa). A shop off of main street selling prints, apparel, and other photo related odds and ends. She was strong recommend from Julie, the owner of Marfa Art Supply. Proof that in this town, a kind word goes a long way, and possible business.
Upon entering her store, you are immediately greeted by Tammy Faye Barker, Lesely’s companion and guard-dog. Tammy Faye was given her name by having a striking resemblance to the disgraced wife of former Pastor, turned adulterer, Jim Baker. Doppelgängers aside, she is full of energy and cuddles. Ms. Barker, that is.
Lesley is a photographer, a true kindred spirit. Originally hailing from Vancouver, Washington, she got her start in the photo industry in Las Vegas shooting for the Adult Film Industry. And in a logic that is only understood by other creatives, she parlayed that work into shooting weddings. While wedding work can be profitable, she found herself losing the love of photography in the mundanity of it all. Thankfully she met her husband, Junie, while in Vegas, and he happened to mention that he was from Marfa. Curious about him and his childhood, she ventured out with him to his hometown. That was 17 years ago.
At first, she opened a fine art gallery in the heart of Marfa, but Covid had other plans. Being the industrious person she is, she reformatted her plans, ditched the expensive studio space, and opted for the cozy confines of Love, Marfa. She sells her personal series “Miguel Meyers” and “Hated on Yelp” at her store. “Miguel Meyers” being a joke by her husband one Halloween, then finding some creative legs to become an actual series, culminating in a calendar that is released on Halloween day. “Hated on Yelp” is a photo series stemming from the negative things visitors would say about Marfa, leading her down a hysterical rabbit hole and scouring the internet for all the negative reviews she could find the town from sites like Google and Yelp. From there, she juxtaposes those quotes against her landscape photography, for an image that is equal parts satire and beautiful.
What makes “Hated on Yelp” so funny is that there is a shred of truth to them. But this is what makes this town so special. You know that certain places may close based on the whims of the owner, but that’s ok. In fact, that’s what we want. A town that slows down because it wants to. Because sometimes there are more interesting things to do than staying cooped up in a store when the West Texas sky beckons you to come outside. And when you do, make sure you take some expired 35mm film for your camera. Appropriately something that you can also find at Love, Marfa.
