There’s almost something uneasy about Jenna Latham’s art — it captures beauty in something that seems so inherently disastrous. Her oil canvases and charcoal drawings depict trees engulfed in flames, smoke clouding above forests and other instances of natural landscapes being ravaged by fire.
But the beauty in these pictures makes sense if Latham’s personal experiences are considered.
Latham has worked as a forest firefighter in British Columbia for over four years to help pay for her fine art education. She had been documenting her work through the years, seizing any chance she had to take a photograph. Compiling the photographs and sketches, Latham later produced paintings and drawings to create a 22-piece collection now on display at the Stuart MacPherson Library. It is a collection that has evolved from her firefighting experiences — experiences that have deeply moved and inspired her.
“Visions of old growth forests being engulfed in red-hot flames, wildlife habitat turned to white ash, and remnants of past life crushed under my feet have been forever burned in my heart and mind,” Latham says in her artist’s statement.
In her first experiences as a firefighter, she saw forest fires as destructive forces. But that view changed. The more she worked and the more fires she attended, the more she began to understand that not all fires are bad — some are natural and are actually ecologically positive, helping forests to renew. Latham finds this process both terrible and beautiful, and it inspires her life and work.
“Though I was saddened and completely overwhelmed by this natural rejuvenation process, I have also been extremely moved and inspired by its raw and severe beauty,” she says. “My appreciation for this process has instilled in me a desire to live a balanced life of stimulation, adventure and creative expression.”
Oil on canvas and pastels are mediums she most commonly used, but there is also a more unusual medium Latham uses that seems perfectly suited to her work — the charcoal in her drawings has been collected from fires she attended.
“I knew that I could use the actual earth to help create the art,” Latham says.
The collection — named “Fireweed” after a plant with pink flowers native to the northern hemisphere — is on display at the library. An opening reception for Latham’s work will be held on Dec. 14 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
