Afterburn

Afterburn documents the aftermath of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires, exploring how climate-driven disasters reshape landscapes, homes, and communities.

Afterburn is a photographic exploration of how landscapes, homes, material possessions, and communities were impacted by the January 2025 wildfires in Southern California. Created over multiple visits to the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena regions, the project investigates the layered relationship between humanity’s long-standing attempts to shape the natural world and the fragility of those efforts in the face of climate-driven disaster. 

Massive fires destroy indiscriminately. In the working-class foothill communities of Altadena, entire blocks are transformed into environments that resemble a warzone, a nearly unimaginable sight on American soil. In the affluent oceanside and hillside enclaves of Malibu and the Pacific Palisades, the devastation is equally severe; luxury homes are reduced to rubble—remnants hinting at their former grandeur. What little survives seems to have done so by sheer accident rather than design. 

The images trace what remains after the fires: remnants of staircases and chimneys, semi-melted signs, scorched statues, burned-out cars, and cracked foundations. They stand as testimonies to the people whose daily routines were anchored in these structures—now evidence of more than two hundred thousand lives abruptly disrupted. Nature, too, bears scars: blackened trees, collapsed vegetation, and fruit reduced to lifeless husks. At moments, signs of recovery emerge—makeshift water systems, graffiti marking structural hazards, advertisements for demolition and reconstruction. Within our images, these elements take on surreal qualities approaching abstraction, which elevates the work’s significance beyond just documentation.

Afterburn examines the temporary and finite space after destruction and before eventual reconstruction. It reflects on the realities of climate-driven disasters that are becoming all-too predictable, and the consequences posed to society and ecosystems due to inadequate preparation. Ultimately, it stands as a warning of nature’s omnipotence, and of humanity’s need to respect and adapt to forces far greater than itself. As such, we hope to contribute to the broader conversation around climate vulnerability. 

Photographs by Ilya Nikolayev and Vincent Nikolayev.