“Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art,” the second PST ART exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, opens Jan. 12. The exhibition reintroduces fire as a generative force, one that connects us to our past and offers a collective path toward a sustainable future, challenging us to rethink attitudes of fear and restrictions around fire — a reconsideration with potentially profound implications for California, a state frequently braced for uncontrolled wildfires.
On view through July 13, 2025, the objects, images and stories in the exhibition make a case for fire (kút in the Payómkawichum and Cahuilla language, ‘aaw in Kumeyaay and cha’wot in Tongva) to be perceived as an elemental relative who creates a cycle that gives all living things a fresh beginning.
Included in “Fire Kinship” are lent objects that Native communities used and continue to use in familial partnership with the land, place and fire: baskets, ollas, rabbit sticks, bark skirts and canoes.
Payómkawichum language) from Summer Herrera
“Fire Kinship” is organized by the Fowler Museum and curated by Daisy Ocampo Diaz (Caxcan), assistant professor of history at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB); Michael Chavez (Tongva), former Fowler archaeological collections manager and Native American Graves and Repatriation Act project manager; and Lina Tejeda (Pomo) M.A. in history at CSUSB. The exhibition is part of the nation’s largest art event, Getty’s PST ART: “Art & Science Collide.”
The exhibition has been shaped through collaborations with key community leaders throughout Southern California: Lazaro Arvizu (Gabrieleno/Nahua), Marlene’ Dusek (Payómkawichum, Kúupangawish, Kumeyaay and Czech), William Madrigal (Cahuilla/ Payómkawichum), Wesley Ruise Jr. (Burn Boss and La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians fire department chief), Stanley Rodriguez (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel), William Pink (Cupeño), Lorene Sisquoc (Fort Sill Apache, Mountain Cahuilla descendant) and Myra Masiel-Zamora (Pechanga Band of Indians).
“Southern California Native communities are bringing fire practices back from dormancy,” said Ocampo Diaz. “Colonization, both past and present, disrupted a cycle that honored fire at the center and caused earth-wrenching ramifications. Native communities have been holding on to these gentle burns despite California ravaging in flames. We are all part of this story and it is a time for listening and unlearning.”
“I often wondered what comes after the movement to decolonize museums,” Tejeda said. “What’s next after exposing the power dynamics in early collecting practices? For Native people, giving a voice to the land is what’s important. We do this through relationships, tending to plants, and creating baskets. ‘Fire Kinship’ is about forging a future where people, land and fire stewardship are all part of the same effort to heal and strengthen our communities.”
Payómkawichum language) by Summer Herrera
New commissions from contemporary artists respond to the exhibition’s cultural objects, inviting a dialogue of critique, reflection and futurity. Some works use the color and growth patterns of the California poppy as a point of reflection, as wildfires impact the well-being of the state flower. Commissioned artists include Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva and Scottish), Emily Clarke (Cahuilla Band of Indians), Gerald Clarke Jr. (Cahuilla Band of Indians), Leah Mata Fragua (yak titYu titYu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash), Summer Paa’ila Herrera (Payómkawichum) and Lazaro Arvizu Jr. (Gabrieleno/Nahua).
RSVP for the Jan. 9 press preview with curators and artists
Read the full release here.
