Reflection

The idea for this piece was etched in my subconscious as I watched my neighborhood vanish behind the Eaton Fire flames, framed by the curve of a car window. That reflection (one half engulfed in fire, the other filled with the people and places I love) stayed with me long after the evacuation. More than just a moment of panic, it marked the first time I saw nature as more than a passive backdrop but as something we are emotionally and existentially entangled with. That tension between destruction and resilience became the heartbeat of this painting. The glowing, hyperreal fire meets the stillness of my face behind glass. The medium let me weave past, present, and imagined futures of real people and invented possibilities into a single frame. What began as a visual expression evolved into an emotional release, helping me process what it meant to live through an inescapable fire that engulfed everything. Art became the only way I could return to that moment, unfreeze it, and understand what it took and what it revealed. Reflecting on the theme, I began to see nature as intimate and ever-present. Nature holds our memories, tests us, and humbles us. The Eaton Fire made me wonder if it was a warning about imbalance-a call to remember the relationships we’ve forgotten. Indigenous worldviews offered me another path: one rooted in reverence and connection rather than domination. They helped me see my grief as a sign of my own disconnection. I hope my art reminds us that we’re not separate from nature-and that healing begins when we learn to listen again.