Photographer Ian Bates reflects on the harshness and beauty of wildfires. Between 2014 and 2020, Bates traveled along the U.S. West Coast and began photographing landscapes increasingly affected by wildfires. However, rather than capturing typical depictions of blazing fire, Bates focuses on the quiet moments after disaster.
“At a time after wildfires burn and before humans return, land and forests are both beautiful and terrifying.”
Bates’s photographs appear to be suspended in time, exploring the liminal stages between calm and violence, beauty and anxiety. The Weight of Ashes includes a poem by Caitlin Lorraine Johnson and essays by Daniel Gumbina. It’s just been released with Deadbeat Club.
