Transform Series, Charcoal, ink, acrylic mixed media on bamboo paper, each is 15″x11″ ©belindachlouber2022

Transform is a series of paper pieces I created in which I visited the Santa Cruz Lightening Complex burn area outside of Bonny Doon in California. I wanted to see the damage the fire had done, see how the land was healing and gather burnt wood to use to make charcoal and ink to create these pieces.

There is an anxiety that runs deep within me toward the end of summer and the memories surface of the recent fires and the threat of more fires. This year I wanted to honor and process my feelings toward the fires. In my research I discovered that some very rare flowers only germinate after a fire. Sometimes they wait a hundred years to come alive. The fourth piece in the series, Rare Flowers Born of Fire, was inspired by the photos taken by “fire followers,” which are a group of hikers in Santa Cruz that document the after effects of fire. Such beauty in the face of such destruction is a testament to natures resiliency.

Rare Flowers Born of Fire was recently in an exhibition at the Gearbox Gallery in Oakland entitled “In My Backyard.” I was happy to see the piece exhibited yet felt that without the other pieces in the series along side it, it was incomplete. Because without the dark despairing feelings the fires bring the beauty resulting from them is not seen in its entirety.

Rare Flowers Born of Fire was recently in an exhibition at the Gearbox Gallery in Oakland entitled “In My Backyard.” I was happy to see the piece exhibited yet felt that without the other pieces in the series along side it, it was incomplete. Because without the dark despairing feelings the fires bring the beauty resulting from them is not seen in its entirety.

There are so many quotes about finding the light in the darkness. One of my favorite is, “Life isn’t just about darkness or light, rather it is about finding light within darkness.” – Landon Parham

Santa Cruz’s ‘Fire Followers’ document phoenix-like flowers rising from ashes of CZU blaze

Gearbox Gallery