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Finding exoticism at homeGrowing up in South Carolina in a Greek household was an experience that, in retrospect, had a definite influence on how I viewed the U.S. as I began photographing it later in life. From the beginning I felt that I was an outsider looking through a window at the society around me. That window later became the viewfinder of my Leica camera. As I grew up and attended school in the segregated South, I became more and more upset about the treatment of black people.
In college in my hometown, where all my schooling took place, I wrote the first anti-segregation editorials in the college newspaper - which led to telephoned threats to our house. While still in my teens, I photographed the Klu Klux Klan burning crosses in the countryside and went to Montgomery, Alabama to photograph the bus-boycott and the young Martin Luther King Jr. This was the beginning of my fascination with America and things American. As I saw more and more of the U. S. it became more exotic to me; I had no desire to go to India...
After an early youthful sojourn in Greece photographing the land of my ancestors I came back to the U. S. and, with the exception of a few brief assignments abroad, I really never worked anywhere else except the U. S. A journalist in Greece once asked me what I thought of the U. S. and my answer was "the U. S. is a salad that has not been tossed." It is not a homogeneous society like England, France, or Germany - even though their homogeneity is now being challenged by darker-skinned newcomers. Individuals in the U. S. tend to be just that - individuals, albeit sometimes worse than better. For me it is an exotic country, with many layers and many visual surprises. Here there are many roots and many attitudes, hence the tendency to polarization. Here there is alienation and anger and fear on a grand scale, especially among those who feel deprived or outsiders in a very materialistic society.
Early on the colors of the U. S. became part of my images, but I always tried to retain the human element - if even in a passing shadow. Some of the pictures are what I call "real" and some are more abstract and surreal. Each picture is a thing unto itself, and I hope that together they make a cohesive and perhaps complex statement about the land where they were made. I love the U. S. and its energy and freedom, and know that I would rather live and photograph here than any other place in the world. View American Color, a Magnum In Motion multimedia essay with Constantine Manos' color photographs.
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Reader comments (2)
Thanks, Constantine. This is an interesting insight into your work and your feelings about the U .S. I’ve been living in France for over 25 years and I can say that the homogeneity you mention has definitely changed. However, not all the newcomers are dark-skinned. I teach in the northern suburbs of Paris and the café that I go to most mornings sees people from many walks of life and many nationalities - North Africans, West Africans, Turks, Romanians, Poles, Sri Lankans and even the odd Englishman! On a day-to-day basis they all get on well. The big challenge to France now is to make sure that they all have the same opportunity to get on.
Comment posted by James Cox on February 10, 2007
Wonderful blog!
This is an important contribution to American History.
Comment posted by Artorios on May 29, 2007