Nora Eccles Harrison Museum Of Art At USU Highlights Jim Mangan: The Crick

 PICTURED: Photograph by Jim Mangan, Horse Whisperer, 2020, Archival pigment print, 20x13 inches. (Courtesy of the artist)

Logan, UT-- The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art’s (NEHMA) exhibition Jim Mangan: The Crick is a series of photographs documenting the real and imagined lives of a group of young men from the FLDS town of Short Creek, also known as “The Crick,” located on the Utah-Arizona border. Originally drawn to the unorthodox architecture of the community, Jim Mangan traveled to Short Creek to document the homes with unusual additions and missing exterior siding. While there, he discovered a new subject: a hidden community of young men he refers to as “The Boys” who live an adventurous lifestyle of riding horses, wearing hand stitched buckskin clothes, living communally, and uniting in their distrust of the outside world. 

Mangan’s dramatic images capture the ambiance of the American West. This exhibition features “The Boys” on horseback cascading down steep hills, climbing rocky mountain sides, and exploring the open landscapes. Mangan conveys a sense of humanity in his portraits and depicts the playfulness of youth against the capricious landscape of the American West. The photographs explore themes of community, nature, abandonment, solitude, imagination, and how humans grapple with their changing world. This exhibition is a must-see.

On April 9, 2026, NEHMA will host a panel discussion from 5:30-6:30 PM at the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall on the USU Logan campus with a reception to follow at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Artist Jim Mangan will be joined by writer Judith Freeman and Short Creek community member Roman Bateman.

Panelists will discuss how Mangan’s photography and Freeman’s written storytelling illuminate both realities and imagined stories of this marginalized part of the contemporary American West, while Roman Bateman provides a first-hand perspective of life in Short Creek.

The event is free and open to all.