AÚn Huele a Quemado
(It still smells like something burned)
One year after the LA fires, it still smells like something burned. The black dead tree trunks along the plants that survived and the new vegetation, offer a mix of sadness and hope. The air, although clear to the eye, still holds much of the toxicity the fire created.
I visited LA during the first week of 2026. Hoping to encounter a sunny California, the majority of the days were rainy and grey. The rain just got one year too late. The focus of my visit was the Will Rogers State Historic Park, in the Pacific Palisades area, where one of the main fires of the beginning of 2025 destroyed many parts of the park and surrounding areas.
In this new series, I pair photographs of the park and the city, adding titles that are also part of the work and complete the narrative I want to share. As I struggle to grapple with the excitement of visiting a place for the first time against the impending grief of global warming, these photographs are part documentary and part opinionated views. Life has continued, but the ashes are still there, reminding us how susceptible our environment is.
