Fowler Museum at UCLA to open 'Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art' Jan 12, 2025

Prior to the colonization of Southern California in the 18th century, Native communities throughout the region deployed controlled fire regimes to ensure the well-being of their local ecosystems. Fire-based land management practices ranged from small burns to spur healthy growth, to larger burns that strategically eradicate invasive species and reduce fuel loads (preventing catastrophic natural fires). Fire Kinship counters attitudes of fear and illegality around fire, arguing for a return to Native practices in which fire is regarded as a vital aspect of land stewardship, community wellbeing, and tribal sovereignty.

A selection of baskets, ollas, rabbit sticks, and bark skirts in this exhibition were made possible through the relationship between people, place, and fire. Commissioned video, sculpture, portrait paintings, and installations by contemporary artists such as Weshoyot Alvitre, Emily Clarke, Gerald Clarke Jr., Leah Mata Fragua, and Summer Herrera respond to and rejoin these cultural objects, spurring a dialogue of critique, reflection, and futurity. The exhibition presents a living history that centers the expertise of Tongva, Cahuilla, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay communities past and present. Fire Kinship reintroduces fire as a generative element, one that connects us to our past and offers a collective path toward a sustainable future.

Image: Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva and Scottish), detail of CALIFORNIA NATIVE Dormidera #2: Modesta Avila, 2023; courtesy of the artist