In the aftermath of California’s 2021 Dixie Fire, burned trees remain as individual witnesses to an event of almost incomprehensible scale. Stripped of their foliage and scarred by fire, these surviving forms stand as reminders of the profound transformation of a once-living forest.
After the Burn approaches these trees as portraits rather than landscapes. Photographed against white and identified only by six-digit numbers, each is removed from its surroundings and encountered individually—as a body, a monument, a mourner, or a survivor. Their twisted limbs, hollowed trunks, and fractured surfaces reveal distinct identities, inviting us to see them not simply as remnants of a forest but as individuals bearing the marks of a shared catastrophe.
My connection to this landscape is personal. Having lost a home to wildfire, I understand how profoundly fire can alter both a place and our relationship to it. Yet this work is not intended as a documentary account of destruction. By isolating these trees against an almost featureless background, I seek to move beyond the specifics of the Dixie Fire toward a more universal exploration of loss, endurance, memory, and the fragile boundary between survival and disappearance.
Ultimately, After the Burn is about the act of witnessing—recognizing individuality within devastation and contemplating what remains when the landscape that once gave these forms context has been forever changed.
After the Burn was awarded Bronze in the Professional Fine Art / Minimalism category at the 2026 Prix de la Photographie, Paris (PX3).
For exhibition, publication, and print inquiries: david@davidwelchphotographicarts.org