SILK ROAD MEMORY REMNANTS

​In the Fall of 2020, in the wake of the CZU fire, I turned to the plants and animals on our second growth redwood forest property, The Kitty Pants Ranch, for wisdom. Fire is a natural part of the forest ecosystem. Our neighborhood had been spared but not left unaffected. We were not evacuated and our neighborhood did not burn but we were dusted in ash and fire fighting debris for the duration of the orange-sky days and nights. Through it all I was keenly aware of the millions of people throughout history who have been forced to move due to war and natural disaster. Many days during the fire I found bits of charred textiles from people’s burning homes littered across our yard. It was a profound sadness to touch these remnants of people’s day to day lives. In response I designed the rug and textile cartoons included in the following gallery of images featuring plants found growing on our property at the time. The original cartoons are drawn with ink and colored with watercolor. The originals each measure 8” x 5.75” and are bound in a Fabrano watercolor notebook. As of today the notebook is not filled and only contains these images. I have used the images as inspiration for some of the 1UV a kind hand painted garments I make. Some of the plants that are featured in the designs have died for unknown reasons since the fires. Strange things happened to the vegetation in the months after the fire. For two seasons the lemons on our lemon tree grew in deformed. The orange tree has died entirely. The nasturtiums grew in a dwarfed manner as did the ferns and my vegetable and herb garden. I have not tried growing new batches of nasturtium. The ferns seem to have recovered. But my herb and vegetable garden has yet to recover fully. I’m not 100% sure if this is due to fire fall out or some other sabotage. A number of plants were cut and damaged by someone’s hand other than my own. Whatever the reasons for the eco-damage, these cartoons remain. I hope to someday have them produced into the glorious rugs and/or home textiles I envisioned them to be.​

Always,

Larissa

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