Winter's Children

Burton Snowboards and Vice Magazine have teamed up for the Opening Reception of the gallery show for the snowboarder/photographer Jim Mangan's newly released photo-book Winter's Children. Complimentary cocktails provided by KRU Vodka. But you'll need to click here to RSVP!

About Winter Children the book: 

In 2010, Mangan left an 11-year in the business side of snowboarding and lit out for the remote backcountry of Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains to recharge and redirect. He was accompanied by seven accomplished snowboarders: his college friend, Peter Sutherland, now a renowned photographer and artist, and rising stars from the sport's next generation, including Laura Hadar and Alex Andrews. The perfectly manicured terrain parks and half pipes, and the ever-present audience, the riders literally stripped away all artifice — along with their clothing — in a powerful artistic statement that honors the original roots of the sport.

The seven riders soared naked and uninhibited down empty slopes on vintage snowboards from the 1980s, clad only in vibrant Native American blankets that contrast with the stark winter landscape. Mangan captured the action and the emotional intensity on an intentionally grainy 35 mm film reflective of the ethos of snowboarding's early years. "As I exited the snowboarding business, I wanted to recreate the feelings that originally drew me to the sport," explains Mangan. "This project is an exaggerated overstatement of those feelings."

Ultimately, for the photographer, the riders, and the viewers, Winter's Children becomes a baptism, with the cold snow washing away the neon filth of consumerism and serving as a bracing reminder of snowboarding's pure origins.