Magnum Blog / Finding exoticism at home

Finding exoticism at home

Growing 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. Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. 1952. Men praying in church. Constantine Manos/Magnum Photos 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...

James Cox

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.

Artorios

Wonderful blog!

This is an important contribution to American History.