ARTISTS
My House Burned Down
When your identity and purpose are rooted in making objects, what happens when all of those objects are reduced to ash? What becomes of the artist when not just the studio, but the home, the archives, the tools, the detritus of life鈥攅verything鈥攊s gone?
My House Burned Down brings together artists who have experienced the destruction of their home by fire. The exhibition includes those affected by the recent Los Angeles fires of 2025, as well as others who have endured individual, isolated blazes. It asks: how does fire shape artmaking in the days that follow catastrophe? And how does it continue to burn years鈥攐r decades鈥攍ater?
After the fire, many people tried to comfort me with the image of the phoenix rising from the ashes鈥攔ebirth, transformation, triumph. But I don鈥檛 feel reborn. I don鈥檛 feel triumphant. I feel exhausted. I feel the literal loss of everything I鈥檝e ever owned, and it is, frankly, incredibly inconvenient.
This exhibition is not about inspiration or silver linings. It鈥檚 about the complex emotional, practical, and artistic aftermath of disaster. I eschewed any subtext in titling the show, and trusted the artists to find meaning in disaster rather than ascribing it to them. What鈥檚 left behind when everything burns?
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When your identity and purpose are rooted in making objects, what happens when all of those objects are reduced to ash? What becomes of the artist when not just the studio, but the home, the archives, the tools, the detritus of life鈥攅verything鈥攊s gone?
My House Burned Down brings together artists who have experienced the destruction of their home by fire. The exhibition includes those affected by the recent Los Angeles fires of 2025, as well as others who have endured individual, isolated blazes. It asks: how does fire shape artmaking in the days that follow catastrophe? And how does it continue to burn years鈥攐r decades鈥攍ater?
After the fire, many people tried to comfort me with the image of the phoenix rising from the ashes鈥攔ebirth, transformation, triumph. But I don鈥檛 feel reborn. I don鈥檛 feel triumphant. I feel exhausted. I feel the literal loss of everything I鈥檝e ever owned, and it is, frankly, incredibly inconvenient.
This exhibition is not about inspiration or silver linings. It鈥檚 about the complex emotional, practical, and artistic aftermath of disaster. I eschewed any subtext in titling the show, and trusted the artists to find meaning in disaster rather than ascribing it to them. What鈥檚 left behind when everything burns?
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