Stuart Palley, American
The Atlas Fire, 2017
This photograph is taken from photographer Stuart Palley’s book, Terra Flamma: Wildfires at Night in which Palley depicts the California wildfires and their subsequent effects through photographs. This image in particular is of the The Atlas Fire which burned over 25,000 acres of land in Napa and Solano counties in California in 2017. The colors of the photograph—the yellows and greens of the lit-up vegetation juxtaposed against the reds and oranges of the blaze—contrast sharply, giving the image an almost surreal quality. The illumination produced by the fire in the background creates an eerie yet ethereal glow which speaks to the nature of wildfire photographs and their accompanying aesthetics (a “burning aesthetics” in the words of TJ Demos), a key topic explored by all of this week’s readings. Label by Jay Jolles