A Collaborative Project with Scientists and Artists
Fires of Change Project explores, through the eyes of artists, the increase in severity, size, and the number of wildfires in the Southwest and their impact on the landscape. It is a collaborative project with scientists and artists and aims to translate the complex social and ecological issues surrounding wildfire into art. It was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Joint Fire Science Program.
In order to show art in the exhibition, the eleven artists in Fires of Change had to participate in a Fire Science Bootcamp, spending a week in the forests of Northern Arizona in late 2014. A team of top-notch fire scientists and managers provided the eleven invited artists education and training on the impact of wildfire in Northern Arizona in preparation for the exhibition.
The Matter of Life and Death
Poem and Video
Hot dry winds steal the drink from the rivers.
The soil, like blood, dries, and flakes and
Flies across the land moaning and gathering in far away places,
Cows hunt for food.
No rains, no snow from the mountains, dry at the end of the ditch,
For the match to strike
The lightning to charge,
It will come.
Relief to the dead brittle bones that were once trees,
Fire comes with no mercy.
Fierce, decisive and swift.
The urgency of fire is here.
It is the elephant in the room.
The crossing point
We have reached
Into the landscape of our future.
We live in a time of hazard.
She is the matter of life and death.