Meet the Park City Artist Who Brings Black Heroes to the Mountain

It was Lamont's wife, a University of Utah graduate, who inspired his first trip west. It was the summer of 2000, and standing at the base of Park City Mountain, Lamont looked upward and recognized the ski potential. Having only snowboarded in the East and Midwest, Lamont vowed to come back and ski Utah the following winter. 

“The snow. The terrain. The atmosphere. It’s really a different experience,” he says now. “It hooked me all the way." Visit after visit, the artist saw a blank canvas that would inspire him to relocate his life. In 2012, Lamont officially made Utah home, and he now splits his time between Park City and the artist community of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. In 2020, Park City was also where Lamont showcased his painting collection, “Skiing in Color.”  

When I had the honor of speaking with Lamont, we started by getting to know each other. We spoke about our favorite runs in Park City, our ideal conditions on the mountain and the boards we’re riding for the season. Our conversation, much like typical snowfall in Utah, got heavier as it progressed.

Was there any specific turning point that sparked the "Skiing in Color" collection?

It was a conversation I was really just having as part of humanity. Also as part of the Black community, where I think most of us have collective awareness or collective consciousness of our color. We don't think about it all the time but we get reminded depending where we are and what space we're in (in this case, the slopes). These types of moments just accumulate in your psyche. I've heard some manufacturers say that Black people don't ski, so we're hoping that we could be a part of changing the narrative. Not just among the manufacturers, but what we are conditioned to see on the mountain. Black people, white people, brown people — whatever. We are conditioned to see certain things; certain faces in certain spaces. I just began to solely focus on Black skiers and snowboarders out of my own personal desire, and I was not sure who would see it or what the reaction would be. (Read: "Uganda to Utah: How the Mountains Taught a Pro Snowboarder To Thrive")

What has the reception been from the Black community?

Exceptional — from both Black skiers and Black folks who don't ski. Initially, my proudest moment was when Black skiers saw my work, they saw themselves represented doing one of the things they love to do. I have my own validity in my work, but I do like to share my art. I was very proud that it reached them the way it did. For the non-skiers who happen to be Black, just speaking of the Black community broadly, they were very happy to see it because what it speaks to is that there are spaces where we are extreme minorities (the ski slope happens to be one of them). When they see themselves reflected in a place where they are a rare sight, they like ‘that it gives us the feeling that we belong everywhere.’ We have our parents and grandparents, those who have had to continue to build this place to where we are. Now we're realizing there's no door or place that we can't be. I think it's the power in what we see. That's what I hope I can add to the conversation. 

What was the motivation behind the use of Black historical figures, such as Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Frederick Douglass? 

I think about my dad growing up in the Jim Crow South and the stories that he shared with me. My dad is a hero of mine. Those other heroes are sort of like Black legacy heroes. We think about the thrill of skiing. We think about how much we enjoy it, the freedom. How we're going to navigate in a wonderful environment and the healthy things of being on the mountain. I wanted to bring them with me through my art. It's a tribute to them but also it's my way of visually bringing them with me to the mountain. After I had done a couple of those pieces, it dawned on me in Martin Luther King's final speech, literally the day before he was killed, he said: ‘I've been to the mountaintop.’ He used the mountain top as a metaphor for the place we want to arrive. And when we get to that place, we'll all be free. Then he says: ‘I've been there and I may not get there with you.’ It stunned me for a few minutes when I realized that in the middle of this collection — that's why I brought him along with me. As if to say: ‘We are there with you.’