A month ago, I watched my house in Altadena burn down. I’ve lived all over the world and never had a house feel so deeply like home. It was more than just a house to me and so many others. It served as an artist residency, backyard music venue, teahouse, meditation space, library, studio, garden… It was a creative sanctuary, tucked away from the chaos of the city.

While evacuating I grabbed only the essentials - my phone, laptop, passport, one camera, hard drives, a few books, a suitcase of clothes, and some of my photo archive. My records, clothes, furniture, books, and sentimental treasures are gone. Cameras, equipment, contact sheets, darkroom prints, hundreds of rolls of film, countless sheets of rare Polaroids, all gone. If you’ve ever visited my workspace, you know I had an extensive collection of discontinued Polaroids. Many of them are irreplaceable, as they were the last remaining boxes in the world. The exposed and unexposed film losses alone exceed $50k.

Most importantly, I’m alive, my friends and neighbors are safe, and I’m in good spirits despite the material loss. I actually feel a profound sense of lightness about it all. I’ve been in Japan for the past couple weeks, rebuilding my camera kit and figuring out the next move.

For tax purposes, all donations will be considered gifts.

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To further donate to wildfire relief, please visit www.laphotofund.com. I’ve contributed to their photo print sale, which features works from an international group of artists and aims to raise funds for ongoing wildfire relief efforts in Southern California.

All LA Photo Fund proceeds will be evenly distributed between two frontline organizations: the Anti-Recidivism Coalition’s Firefighter Fund and the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Relief Fund.

Thank you ♡