‘These places in time now exist only in our memory’ – How Frieze Los Angeles is Helping the Art Community Recover Following Devastating Wildfires

By Millie Barker

Frieze Los Angeles, Santa Monica Airport. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh.

Courtesy Frieze.

Last Thursday, the twentieth of February, artists, gallerists, collectors, dealers, non-profits, and a range of celebrity profiles gathered at Santa Monica Airport, California, for the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Frieze Fair. 

Launched in 2019 under the direction of Christine Messineo, Frieze Los Angeles is one of four fairs put on by Frieze, with the others taking place in London, New York, and Seoul. Focusing on the contemporary art scene, it celebrates LA’s dynamic cultures and global contribution to the visual arts. It features installations and exhibitions from over 95 local and international galleries across the world, as well as collaborations with non-profits. Frieze 2025 comes in the devasting wake of January’s wildfires which swept the neighbourhoods of Malibu, Altadena, and the Pacific Palisades.

The fires, which killed at least 28 people, resulted in significant personal and economic devastation, at an estimated cost to LA of $95 billion to $164 billion in property and capital losses.

Despite controversy, the fair has gone ahead, with the organisers highlighting that the event ‘genuinely support[s] the local economy and the arts community.’ Indeed, the economic impact of the fair—with  investment into lighting, security and food vendors--extends  beyond the art market, inviting out-of-towners into the city after long closures across its cultural spaces.

Further, the fair incorporated several fundraising and relief efforts for wildfire victims. These included the Los Angeles Community Fire Relief Fund for individual artists and art workers led by the Paul Getty Trust, with support from a coalition of major arts organisations and philanthropists. Thus, Frieze marks a significant recovery initiative for the mass displacement of artists, collectors and culture workers during the January wildfires. As New York-based Gallerist Charles Moffett commented, the collaboration of the exhibiting artists marked a ‘collective resiliency and advocacy.’

Several of those exhibiting faced the wildfire devastation first hand. Alec Egan, who presented a series of new works centred on the fires, lost his studio and all his works to the blaze. Similarly, Kelly Akashi lost her home and her studio. Alex Hedison’s photographic series ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ Series, 2012, has taken on a new resonance, as it is a composite of multiple images of her childhood home that was burnt to the ground by the fires. The series is a tribute to the unimaginable loss experienced by so many, a powerful comment on lost history, and the funeral testament of photography. Two of her photographs have been donated to the LA Arts Fire Relief Fund.

Left Image: Alex Hedison, Untitled #10 (Nowhere), ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ Series, 2012. Courtesy Southern Guild, Los Angeles and ArtNet.

Right Image: The remains of Alex Hedison’s childhood home in Malibu after the Palisades Fire. Photo by Vincent Walsh. Courtesy ArtNet.

Despite the energy at the fair, visitors still felt the effects of the fire through glimpses of burnt vegetation and skeletal structures, as well as the noticeably shortened list of attendees. While it is too soon to tell what larger implications the fire will have on LA, much less the city’s art scene itself, Frieze LA 2025 signifies a commitment to rebuilding and recovering together. It also asks the art community how we might stand not just to recover from natural disasters but grow to be resilient against them. In the face of natural disasters, what steps can the art world take to stop our culture and history from burning?

Bibliography

Carrigan, Margaret. “Disaster Relief? Even as the Los Angeles Art World Rallies, Climate Concerns Loom.” ArtNet, February 22, 2025. https://news.artnet.com/market/disaster-relief-la-art-fairs-2611754

Cascone, Sarah. “Alex Hedison’s Photo Series Keeps Her Childhood Home Alive.” ArtNet, February 20, 2025. https://news.artnet.com/market/alex-hedison-southern-guild-childhood-home-photography-2610258

Frieze. “About.” Accessed February 26, 2025. https://www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles/about

Kinsella, Eileen. 2025. “Hope Runs High at Frieze L.A. as Art Buys Drive Fire Relief.” ArtNet, February 21, 2025. https://news.artnet.com/market/frieze-la-2025-sales-report-2611589.

Center for Cultural Innovation. “LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.” Accessed February 26, 2025, https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html

Porterfield, Carlie. “Dealers Feel Justified in Forging Ahead with Los Angeles Art Week.” The Art Newspaper, February 22, 2025. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/21/dealers-feel-justified-in-forging-ahead-with-los-angeles-art-week

Sutton, Benjamin. “Frieze Will Proceed with Los Angeles Fair Following Deadly Wildfires in the City.” The Art Newspaper, January 17, 2025. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/17/frieze-los-angeles-goes-ahead-despite-wildfires