Ricky Stephens on his property after the Wall Fire, Oroville, California. His home was destroyed. His donkey, Dane, was found alive but badly burned and evacuated for treatment. From the series Elegy in Ashes, documenting the aftermath of wildfires in Northern California.
Elegy in Ashes
Exhibited in Paris as part of the 2023 State of the World Prize, “Elegy in Ashes” traces the haunting aftermath of Northern California’s wildfires. The series studies scorched trees, collapsed structures, and the ghostly quiet of a monochromatic landscape, revealing both the violence of the burn and the fragility it exposes. By lingering with these charred remains, the work invites viewers to sit with grief, reckon with the accelerating climate crisis, and consider what it means to protect what is left.
