Mullholland Highway

2019

fine art prints

70 x 50 cm

Santa Monica Mountains, May 2019. An open gate somewhere along Mullholland Highway leads down a canyon, through burnt trees, towards a rocky creek bed. Camp Bloomfield had been used as a recreational site for children and youths with vision impairments and their families.

A layer of lush green rises from the broken soil, hastily covering the scars the Woolsey Fire had left in November 2018, while raging through the canyons. A wildfire destroying more than 1500 structures, claiming three fatal casualties and prompting the evacuation of nearly 300000 people.

After the fire came heavy rains that gushed now unhindered down the steep slopes, cleaning the tiles, the stones, the concrete, the metal, the plastic, leaving only the burnt wood carbon black. A thick layer of mud covers the ground inside and outside the damaged structures, heavily cracked from the drought it has been exposed to since.

The grey overcast sky of a quiet early spring day evenly lights the scene, casting no shadows, creating a peaceful and silent atmosphere that equally reveals all details the destructive forces have left behind.