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After the Fire: Emily Araújo's "The Unknown" and the Resilient LA Arts Community

Opening June 7th at Shoebox, Araújo's first solo exhibition since losing her Altadena studio explores memory, loss, and the creative imperative born from catastrophe


Emily Araújo had an image of a Louise Bourgeois drawing taped to her studio wall with the statement: "Art is a Guaranty of Sanity." On January 8th, when the Eaton Fire consumed her Altadena studio and family home, that drawing—along with thirty years of artwork and life's objects—disappeared in a single day. Now, five months later, Araújo is preparing for her solo exhibition "The Unknown" at Shoebox (June 7-22), featuring work created entirely in the aftermath of that loss.


"All the works produced for 'the unknown' were completed post-fire and born of a need for such a guaranty," Araújo explains. The exhibition, opening June 7th with a reception from 3-5pm at Shoebox (660 South Avenue 21 #3), represents more than artistic recovery—it's a meditation on memory, loss, and the creative urgency that emerges from catastrophe.


The Freedom of Having Nothing Left to Lose

Araújo's decision to proceed with the planned solo exhibition after such devastation has introduced what she calls "chaos" into her work. "My choices are born of the freedom of having nothing more to lose," she reflects. This sentiment echoes throughout her new body of work, where transparent layering in water media allows viewers to see "the strata of different painting days, remnants of my process."


The artist, who holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and has been exhibiting for over thirty years, describes working with unprecedented urgency. "Having lost a great deal, it is as if I didn't want anything else to get lost." Her subjects—remembrance, lost objects, smoke, mist, and inventing stories of home—directly engage with her experience of displacement and reconstruction.


Araújo's fascination with storms predates the fire. "I am enthralled by storms," she states, recalling Hurricane Katrina's satellite imagery, preparing for typhoons as a child in Hong Kong, and the green-tinged air before Connecticut thunderstorms. "The winds I have witnessed in Altadena have awed me, and aided in the total destruction of my studio and family home."





Part of a Larger Story

Araújo's exhibition opens against the backdrop of an arts community still processing the unprecedented scale of January's fires. The Eaton and Palisades fires, which began January 7th, ultimately claimed at least 29 lives and destroyed nearly 40,000 acres, including more than 12,000 structures. For Los Angeles artists, the impact has been particularly devastating.


Artists like Paul McCarthy, Diana Thater, Kelly Akashi, and Alec Egan lost not just homes but entire archives—decades of work, raw footage, master tapes, paintings that will never be replaced. Gary Indiana's library and archive, moved to Altadena on January 7th, was completely destroyed the next day.


The loss extends beyond artists' own work to entire collections that housed the work of others. When collectors' homes burned, so did carefully curated assemblages that represented years of cultural stewardship. These weren't just personal collections—they were often informal archives of artistic movements, documentation of creative relationships, and repositories of work by emerging artists whose pieces might not yet be represented in major institutions.


Community Response and Institutional Support

The arts community's response has been swift and comprehensive. Aram Moshayedi, interim chief curator at the Hammer Museum, organized "One Hundred Percent," a pop-up exhibition featuring work by more than 80 fire-impacted artists, with 100% of proceeds going directly to participants. The show, which ran in February at 619 N. Western Avenue, became one of the first major art-world gatherings after the fires.


The LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, led by the J. Paul Getty Trust in partnership with the Hammer Museum, LACMA, MOCA, and dozens of other organizations, raised over $15 million for emergency relief. Araújo herself received support from this fund, alongside a Pasadena Individual Artist Grant.

Galleries and community spaces transformed into distribution hubs. The Los Angeles Makery at the Little Tokyo Arts Tower offered their maker space and tools to displaced artists. The Loft at Liz's, nestled above Liz's Antique Hardware in the historic Miracle Mile district, joined grassroots efforts supporting the community.


The Economics of Artistic Survival

What emerges from these responses is recognition that cultural ecosystems require active protection. As artist Ross Simonini described after losing his home and studio: "I lost nearly all the work I have ever made in the Eaton fire. That includes childhood drawings I made with my mom, the drawing that helped me believe I could be an artist, and several new bodies of work. I don't think I will ever stop grieving that loss, but the loving response from the art community has already started transforming that grief into something else."


The fires forced uncomfortable confrontations with the precarity many artists live with daily. Housing costs have pushed artists to areas more vulnerable to natural disasters, creating what some now call "climate refugees" within the artistic community.


Beyond Recovery: Transformation

For Araújo, "The Unknown" represents more than rebuilding—it's about embracing uncertainty as a creative force. Her water media work, with its "slippery, uncontrollable nature," echoes her investigations into memory and loss while finding "calm, rhythm, and beauty when making."


The exhibition's title speaks to this moment of standing at a crossroads, where "all around is the unknown." Yet Araújo's commitment to proceeding with the show demonstrates the determination that has characterized the broader community response.


As a former member of the cyberfeminist collective subRosa and current member of the Artnauts—a group invested in social sculpture and forging connections across politically fraught boundaries—Araújo brings decades of experience with collaborative and socially engaged practice to this moment of personal and collective rebuilding.


Looking Forward

"The Unknown" runs through June 22nd, concluding with an artist talk from 3-5pm. Viewing is by appointment (shoeboxartsla@gmail.com), creating an intimate setting for work born from such personal upheaval.


Araújo's exhibition joins a growing body of work by fire-impacted artists processing this experience. Her transparent layering technique—where viewers can see the archaeological record of different painting sessions—becomes a metaphor for how the arts community itself is rebuilding, with visible traces of what came before informing what emerges.


"I find calm, rhythm, and beauty when making," Araújo reflects. In a time when the ground beneath Los Angeles artists has quite literally shifted, this commitment to the creative process offers something approaching that guaranty of sanity Bourgeois promised—not through art's permanence, but through its capacity for renewal.


Emily Araújo: "The Unknown"June 7-22, 2025Shoebox, 660 South Avenue 21 #3, Los Angeles CA 90031Opening Reception: June 7, 3-5pmArtist Talk: June 22, 3-5pmBy appointment:





Sources and References

Artist statement and biographical information from Emily Araújo and Shoebox gallery materials. Fire timeline and statistics from NBC Los Angeles and CNN wildfire reporting. Artist impact stories from ARTnews, The Seattle Times, and Cultured Magazine. Information about community response efforts from KQED, NBC News, and The Art Newspaper. LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund details from Getty Museum official documentation. Resource and mutual aid information from Creative Capital, Colossal, and Artsy comprehensive coverage.


Additional Resources for Fire-Affected Artists

Emergency Relief Funds:

  • LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund: getty.edu/about/development/LAArtsReliefFund2025.html

  • CERF+ Emergency Relief: For craft artists affected by disaster - cerfplus.org

  • Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant: $500-$3,000 urgent grants for visual and performing artists

  • Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grant: Up to $15,000 for painters, printmakers, and sculptors with decade+ practice

  • Rauschenberg Emergency Medical Grants: Up to $5,000 for artists facing medical, dental, or mental health emergencies


Music Industry Support:

  • MusiCares: $1,500 financial assistance plus $500 grocery card for music professionals

  • ASCAP Emergency Relief Fund: $1 million fund for composer and songwriter members

  • Sound Royalties Wildfire Relief Program: No-cost assistance for music creators and royalty rights holders

  • We Are Moving the Needle Microgrants: For early/mid-career producers, engineers, and creators who lost studio space or gear


Theater and Writing:

  • Dramatists Guild Crisis Relief Grant: For playwrights and librettists affected by fires

  • SAG-AFTRA Disaster Relief: Priority assistance for members whose residences/vehicles were destroyed

  • Entertainment Community Fund Emergency Financial Assistance: Support for housing, utilities, medical bills, groceries


Art Supply Donations and Workspace:

  • The Los Angeles Makery: Maker space with tools, equipment, and gallery spaces - makery.la

  • Loft at Liz's: 453 S. La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles

  • Superchief Gallery: 1965 S Los Angeles Street, collecting supplies and art materials for fire victims

  • Taylor Fine Art: 6039 Washington Blvd, Culver City - essential goods collection, Sundays 1-5pm

  • Thinkspace Projects: 4217 and 4207 W. Jefferson Blvd - supply donations to Red Cross


Comprehensive Resource Lists:

  • Shoebox Arts LA Fire Resources: shoeboxarts.com/post/la-fire-resources-2025

  • Creative Capital Wildfire Relief Resources: Updated list of organizations helping LA artists

  • Hyperallergic Resource List: Running compilation of mutual aid, art supply donations, and relief funding

  • Artsy Support Resources: Community mutual aid, regional relief aid, and fundraisers


Federal and State Resources:

  • FEMA Disaster Relief: DR-4856 designation for California Wildfires - fema.gov/disaster/4856

  • California Arts Council: Support and guidance for affected cultural institutions

  • National Heritage Responders: 24/7 hotline at 202.661.8068 for collections care advice

  • US Small Business Administration: Disaster assistance for affected businesses and nonprofits


For the most current information and additional resources, artists are encouraged to check these organizations' websites directly, as new support programs continue to emerge.

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