Statement

These self-portraits were taken at locations around the world recently impacted by a significant wildfire. The sites include the Mojave National Preserve in California, where the Dome Fire killed 1.3 million Joshua Trees in 2020, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks where fires in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in 2020 and 2021 are estimated to have killed nearly 19 percent of all large giant sequoias on earth, more than 10,000 sequoias in total, including many that were over 2,000 years old. This project takes me to natural environments that were once very beautiful and full of life, that are now destroyed or severely damaged, with prospects for recovery very uncertain. Often these places, after the fire is extinguished and the crisis is over, in contrast to the power of the fire and the severity of the destruction, seem quiet and forgotten.