CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 7/22/2023

Summer vibes in 'Matthew Brookes: Into the Wild'

Featured spreads are from Matthew Brookes' classic photobook documenting California’s vibrant migratory surf-van culture. “This book provides a unique window into the daily lives of what many would describe as surf bums,” surfer and surf journalist Zack Raffin writes. “A large percentage of the subjects featured here live in their vans, and those who don’t have described their rigs as the vessels in which their personal strain of nirvana is achieved. Like the labyrinth that is a woman’s handbag, a surfer’s van can (and does) provide all of the essential factors needed to chart the course of a surfing life. Vans not only get you to the beach, but allow you to wake up to beachfront property at studio apartment prices. Factor in the spaciousness, the fact you can cook, store surfboards and commune with fellow tribesmen and you have yourself the answer as to why surfers and vans have gone hand in hand for generations. Southern California has long been the epicenter of the surfer/van relationship, providing a dance floor for the two to intermingle since the dawn of the wave riding bonanza. Those here offer a unique window into the current state of Los Angeles’ surf-van culture. This isn’t van life as you’ve seen on the internet… in fact it’s far from it. These vans are an organic extension of their owners, directly intertwined in the romance of life.”