Other People’s Artworks is an interactive web installation and archive preserving artworks and stories from artists who were displaced by the January 2025 Eaton Fire. Explore the archive by navigating your mouse across the ashes. When a pink speck appears, click it to discover the buried artifact. Need help? View the Map (opens new tab)

Please note: This is a beta version of the installation. I am currently in the process of collecting artworks for the archive.


The image that serves as this installation’s backdrop is a photograph I took inside my surviving north Pasadena home on January 8th, the day after the fire broke out. The photograph is of ashes coating a work table inside my art studio—a space I’ve shared for years with other artists through the platform of The Residency Project. My household fled in the middle of the previous night when our power went out, flames were visible from the studio, and smoke choked our lungs, only returning in the morning to quickly grab a few more belongings. At the time of taking this photo, our house was only in the evacuation warning zone, but we knew that the erratic winds could hurl embers in our direction at any moment.

In a few days’ time, it became more clear that our home would survive the fire, but for a week yet, toxic ash rained down on our neighborhood, and heavy gusts blew those fine particles inside our house through every possible crevice. Before a professional hazmat team came in to conduct toxicity tests and begin the grueling smoke remediation and cleanup process, I returned once more and carefully collected these ashes from my studio. By that time, the toll of the Eaton Fire was apparent, and it was devastating. I gently swept the ashes off my table and into a glass jar, determined to memorialize them in some way. These were not disembodied specks of carbon. They were tiny pieces of people’s homes. Their books, their clothing, their children’s toys, their family heirlooms, their artworks.

The Eaton Fire burned for 24 days. It destroyed over 6,000 homes and numerous schools, businesses, and houses of worship; and damaged over more 650 homes in the community. Many of the homes that were destroyed belonged to fellow artists, and it is with this installation and archive that I pay homage to them. Other People’s Artworks (and Everything Else They Owned) is part of my process of grieving the losses in my community, as well as it is a plea for connection and an offering of support to others who may need it as well.

If you’re interested in participating in the project, please click below for more details and to submit!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Submit your work for inclusion in Other People’s Artworks