These images are from a recent series made with found charcoal from the burn scars of California wildfires. This “natural” charcoal – though “natural” is a complicated term in the context of human-caused climate change – reveals much more about its origins than traditional vine charcoal used for drawing. Imbuing each mark with the subtle reds, browns, greens, and silvery blues of the trees from which it came and the minerals those trees were storing, this charcoal carries onto the page literal evidence of the damage we’ve done, and sits lightly on the page – it’s easily effaced, like our species.

In these drawings, I’m merging this material history with the emotional landscape of an increasingly uncertain world; I’m searching for understanding in the interplay of technical drafting techniques and the intrinsic, organic character of the wildfire char.