The Structure of Fire(works): Between Spectacle and Disaster | Apr 21, 2026; 6:30 – 8:00pm | Occasions and Exhibitions | School of Visual Arts

MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media presents a chat with artist Kevin Cooley (MFA 2000 Photography and Related Media).

Fire has lengthy been each a topic and a power in Kevin Cooley’s work—one thing he has noticed, documented, and even orchestrated. But when he misplaced his house and studio within the Eaton Fire, it ceased to be simply a creative fascination and have become an inescapable actuality. In this discuss, Cooley shares the journey that led him to publish The Wizard of Awe, beginning with assembly a fireworks maker named Ken Miller. Miller’s life was outlined by hearth in methods each mesmerizing and tragic. Now, standing within the aftermath of the fireplace that modified his personal life, Cooley confronts these themes from a brand new perspective. What does it imply to doc destruction if you your self are affected? How does an artist have interaction with catastrophe with out turning into consumed by it? Cooley will focus on the unintended penalties of his work with Miller, the burden of witnessing, and the sudden methods by which images, storytelling, and private loss intersect.

Kevin Cooley’s multidisciplinary apply facilities on humanity’s unstable relationship with nature, environmental narratives, and local weather change—participating each native and international considerations. His current give attention to hearth and its ecological implications took a profoundly private flip when he misplaced his house and studio within the 2025 Eaton Fire. Experiencing this devastation firsthand dissolved the boundary between his artwork and life in a method he by no means might have anticipated. This loss deepened his connection to the themes he has lengthy explored and sharpened his focus, reinforcing—viscerally—the urgency of his mission. In the face of disaster, his work insists on the need of reimagining a future by which renewal stays attainable.

Cooley obtained an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His current environmentally-focused exhibitions embrace The Jones Institute, Laney Contemporary, Kopeikin Gallery, and the California Air Resources Board. His work is held within the everlasting collections of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The California Museum of Photography, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The 21C Museum, and The Nevada Museum of Art. He has additionally been commissioned for climate-related tales by publications reminiscent of The Atlantic, The California Sunday Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine.